Wonderwall
by onelildustbunni
Summary: Two friends take it upon themselves to fix some problems. But they don't realize that when you mess with time, it's bound to mess with you right back.
1. Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello! This story is...pretty unique in terms of universe setting. In the beginning, the characters have experiences from New X-men: Academy X #1-New X-Men (2nd series) #46, X-force #13-20ish (2009), and X-men Legacy #242-243 (2011). Some other arcs are also touched on, such as the X-23 miniseries, and other X-force issues. If you haven't read these comics directly, it should be okay; I tried to include summaries of the relevant backstory as part of the narrative, so the events will (hopefully) still make sense. I made some assumptions about dates that might not hold true in the comics, as it's pretty impossible to gauge the passing of time. This story requires a timeline, so I've included times and dates that I decided based roughly off when the comics were published, with some adjustments. _(To those readers who have been following my work for a while, I've included a footnote at the end.)_

Hope you all enjoy! :)

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

_**05/25/2010  
11:38 PST  
****Cafeteria, Ut****opia**_

Laura surveyed the large cafeteria silently, her lips turned down slightly in a frown. She was concerned. She had already looked everywhere else that he might be. Perhaps he had not been released from the infirmary yet. But it had been three days since he had been infected, and Elixir had told her that he had healed him completely. Had Julian left Utopia without saying goodbye? It was possible. She knew he was angry. Bitter about everything he had lost, to Stryker, to the Purifiers, to the X-men who had failed to protect him and his friends. He considered himself to be a victim. All this she had overheard in his conversations with the other inhabitants of the island. Lately he had stopped talking to his friends, and was now usually silent. She was not sure what this meant.

Then, during a recent mission with X-force, she had heard that he had been taken along with Nori by the Leper Queen, and injected with the Legacy virus. She hadn't been able to save him. Logan had warned her to keep to task, to focus on what they needed to do instead: save the girl in the future. Hope. X-force had been given time travelling devices, and they had traveled forward in time to Bishop and Stryfe from killing Hope and Cable, who they had trapped there. X-force had become trapped too, and they had been forced to overstay, to the point that their cellular structures had become unstable and they had begun to die. By the time they had freed Hope and Cable, even Laura was almost dead. She had crawled back to a spot she had marked on the ground, to save another X-man from the Leper Queen when she returned to the present. She was about to interrogate her on what she had done to Julian and Nori, but then Kimura had shown up and she had blacked out. After that, she had fought her way out of the facility. It wasn't an experience she liked to think about. By the time she was free again, Logan told her that Julian and Nori were fine.

But she wanted to see that for herself. Also, she liked to look at him. She had not had much time recently, not with all of the X-force assignments, but doing so still made her feel strange inside. Not a bad kind of strange; a good kind. Warm. Tingling. Sensations that, so far, nothing-and no one else-had caused her to feel. She found herself hoping he had not left.

No, there he was. Sitting at a table in the corner, leaning his cheek on his hand as he read something on his phone. His lip was curled, and his eyebrows were drawn together, as if he was angry. He must be reading something upsetting. She inhaled, a little more deeply, took a few steps in his direction, then stopped. She did not actually need to approach him. She had verified that he was physically normal. She could hear his heart beating steadily, his ventilation was regular, and his scent was already wafting under her nostrils. No, the only vital signs that were not normal here were hers. As Logan had said, she was "lighting up": pulse and breath quickening, her temperature rising slightly. Her eyebrows drew together. What-

Julian glanced up and saw her. His mouth opened, then he suddenly was on his feet and hugging her, his arms squeezing around her shoulders tightly. Then he drew back and looked at her, his forehead wrinkled. "Hey! Where _were _you? Was it the Sapien League? I asked Cyclops but he wouldn't tell me. Are you okay?"

Laura looked at him for a moment, her face warming. She hadn't expected the embrace, the concern. "I-no-yes."

"..." He raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

She closed her eyes briefly, frustrated with herself. "No, the Sapien League did not take me. Yes, I am fine."

"Thank god." His forehead wrinkled again. "Who was it then?"

Laura hesitated. "The facility."

His eyes narrowed. "Kimura?"

She hesitated. "Yes."

"God dammit." His lip curled. "I should've put her down, I-I'm sorry, Laura. Did you-did you kill her this time?"

"I...no." She had not expected him to say this. Before, he had been adamant that they should not kill Kimura. Why had he changed his mind?

"How did she manage to take you? I mean, the first time she only got you because we were slowing you down." He paused. "What aren't you telling me?"

"..." Laura shook her head slightly. "I do not want to talk about this."

"Oh, come on." He stepped to the side and sank back down in his chair, patted the table. "Sit. Talk. Good clone."

She flinched slightly.

Julian rolled his eyes. "It's not...I'm not calling you names, okay? It's a pet name."

Laura's forehead wrinkled. "'Pet name'?" She was not sure that sounded any better. As if she was an animal.

"Just…" he sighed, shook his head slightly. "Forget it. Just sit, okay? Please?"

Laura hesitated, then perched on the seat opposite from him, biting her lip. She was not certain how much she was allowed to say about the excursion X-force had taken to the future. She knew that Logan had warned her not to speak of their activities. Which normally was not a problem, since no one spoke to her anyway.

"So. You _need_ to tell me why Kimura was able to kidnap you." Julian leaned forward. "This might be important. If she comes back or something. I need to know how to defend you."

"You will not have to." She leaned back slightly in her chair, her eyes sinking down to the table surface. For some reason she could not maintain visual contact.

"Laura, look at me."

Her eyebrows drew together, but she did, biting her lip again.

"How was Kimura able to kidnap you?"

"I was already in a w-weakened state from something unrelated." Laura held his gaze a moment too long. His eyes were very blue. She was beginning to perspire. "I overstayed the safe limit in the future and cellular decay had begun." Pause. Her eyebrows drew together as she thought about what she had just said. Too much.

Julian's eyes narrowed. "The future? Wait-you mean _time travel?_"

"I do not want-"

"-to discuss this, yeah I know, but I _do._" He reached out and laid his fingertips on top of hers. "Laura, do you mean time travel?"

She nodded, very slightly.

"..." Julian leaned back. "You're fucking with me. You've got to be. The X-men can fucking time travel, and yet they do nothing about the past four years of hell that have been our lives? Are you-are you fucking _serious_?"

She bit her lip.

"Just…" his eyes squeezed shut. "Oh my god. I can't believe them."

Laura said nothing.

Julian paused. "Wait a minute. _You_ time traveled." He looked at her. "How? Tech?"

She hesitated.

"Laura!"

"I...yes."

Julian thought for a moment. "Get me one too. They won't fix it...we'll do it ourselves. Go back to when we were seventeen and life was _good_. Stop all this shit from happening."

"No."

"..." His eyes narrowed again. "What do you mean, _no?_ Laura! Think of all the lives we can save! All the crap we can undo! This is our chance to really, actually be heroes!"

"No." She paused. "It is too...dangerous."

"Eh? Somethin's too dangerous?" Santo had just entered the cafeteria. "What's so dangerous that even X-23's worried?"

"Fuck off!" Julian snapped, his expression turning to one of anger. "You're not our friend anymore, loser."

"Cool." Santo shrugged. "Think you two got the loser category covered anyway, with the _murderer _here an' all."

"..." Julian gritted his teeth. "Just get lost."

Laura looked down at the table, her eyebrows drawing together. She had killed an interrogation subject in front of several X-men, and now everyone was displeased with her. Including Cyclops, as she had almost exposed the activities of X-force. But the displeasure that disturbed her the most was that of the people she considered her friends. Santo. Cessily. Nori. However, Julian did not seem upset. She found this odd, since he had been very disturbed when he saw her killing before. He had even lectured her.

"Laura. I know you're scared." Julian leaned forward, put his fingertips over hers again. No, more. His hand, his entire hand. It was warm, and dry, and-he was still speaking. "...lives are as bad as they're going to get, right now. How could it get any worse? You get us those...whatever they are...and we can _fix_ all this. It can only go up from here."

This time, Laura focused on his mouth rather than his eyes. She thought that might help her retain her train of thought. But it did not. She found herself studying its shape, the full lips that tapered into delicate corners. It was pleasing to look at. She nodded slightly.

"Great!" He pulled his hand away. "I'll meet you in my room. Twenty minutes enough?"

Laura nodded again, then paused. "What?"

"..." Julian sighed. "The time shit. Get the stuff we need, and meet me at my room in twenty. We're gonna fix all this."

"N-no." She shook her head and got to her feet.

He reached up and caught her wrist. "Laura. You'll regret this." His eyebrows were drawn together. He was angry...but something else, too. Sad? She was not perfect at reading emotions from expressions as of yet.

"..." She looked down at her arm. "Let go of me."

He loosened his grip, and her hand slipped through his.

* * *

_**06/08/2010  
16:26 PST  
Infirmary, Utopia**_

Her fingers rested on the mattress. Their fingertips should be touching, if he had any. Instead, there was only empty space. A little distance away were thick, wrapped dressings. She could smell blood, and see a little red soaking through on the corner of one.

Julian's eyes were shut, and his expression was blank. He was unaware of it all, the battle outside, the pain he was probably in. Dr. McCoy had hooked him up to a morphine IV, but had warned her that it might not be enough when he woke. But he hadn't known when that would be. He had lost a _lot_ of blood. Even with Laura's donation, he was still likely to be weakened for days to come.

Her eyebrows drew together. It had only taken two weeks for his words of warning to come true. She was already wondering if her answer to him about the time devices was correct. The situation was getting worse and worse. And now he had been injured. Severely. He no longer had hands. He could not just grow new ones, as she would. She could steal a device, go back an hour and push him out of the way of the Nimrod's antimatter beam. But then, why not go back further, as he had suggested? Prevent all of this from occurring? Because it would lead to other problems. Otherwise, she was certain the X-men would have attempted it. Still, the temptation was there.

"Laura!" Logan was leaning into the infirmary. He was in his X-force uniform. There was blood splattered across his face. "The hell're you doing?! We _need _you out there!"

"..." She closed her eyes, bowed her head, but got to her feet and followed.

* * *

_**04/02/2011  
17:08 PST  
Situation Room, Utopia**_

Laura sat against the wall, her eyebrows drawing together. She was listening to the conversation occurring in the Utopia Situation Room, between Julian and Cyclops. Rogue was standing by, silent.

"Won?" Cyclops sounded incredulous.

"Well, if anyone was keeping score." Julian paused. "Yeah, I beat her." His voice was casual. Unconcerned.

"Karima's either brain dead, or else her self-awareness has shut down so far that we can't find it." The older man's voice was stern. "How much of that was the virus, and how much the damage you did to her is impossible to quantify."

"Hey, I didn't notice anyone else pulling their punches!" Julian's voice was sharp. "I saved a _lot _of lives. Including your messiah."

"Yes. You did." Cyclops paused. "But the level of violence was appalling and unacceptable. And I'm waiting for you to show a little remorse. Some trace of doubt...regret."

"When are you going to stop doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Oh, you know. Trying to pass off whatever morality you happen to be peddling right now as timeless wisdom. Because...people are onto you." Julian folded his arms. She could hear the _clinks _of his prosthetic hands brushing against each other. "The end justifies the means-but only for you. Murder is all in the game-but only for you." Pause. "God may sleep, but Cyclops is always there to take up the slack, huh?"

Laura's eyebrows drew together. She knew this was a comment about the discovery of X-force. Their actions had come to light, after further investigation. Which had all begun with _her_ mistake, killing that man in front of the others. She did not regret this, but she did regret not practicing more discretion.

"Do you at _least _accept that there was another way to handle this, Julian?"

_Clink _again. "Fucking hell. This way worked, and I'll be _damned _if I'm going to apologize for it!"

"Then I'm sorry. You don't leave me any choice." Pause. "You're on probation. If you can't control yourself, you'll have to leave Utopia. Or else you'll join our other intractable problems in the brig."

"And just what gives you the right to say that to me?"

_Scrape, _as Cyclops pushed away his chair and stood. "Most of us have stood there, looking down that road you're thinking of travelling. Most of us _didn't _take it."

"No offense, but most of you didn't have the balls."

"If you say so." _Click, _as Cyclops opened the door and left.

_Click. _

"Listen here."

"Oh, great. Now I get the lecture from the nice cop. Can we just skip it and go our separate ways?"

"Ah'm not here to be the nice cop, or your friend. Ah'm here in a different capacity."

"And what-"

_Clatter. _Followed by a _slam. _Laura scrambled to her feet, alarmed.

"Ah'm the ultimate sanction, sugah. You know what ah can do to you, and ah hope you know, ah'll do it. Ah'm not going to wait to lose another friend to you. Ah'll shut you right down. Pull out your powers by the root and burn 'em on a big old bonfire." Pause. "You used up your hail Mary out there so you better learn some other prayers...or find some other friends."

Scuffling noises, and then Rogue left the room.

"Pretty sure I can get by without either." A few minutes passed, then there were footsteps again, growing closer.

Laura folded her arms against herself, watching as Julian emerged from the nearby door. He was rubbing his throat absentmindedly, and continued past her, not even noticing her presence. Or perhaps he did, but did not care.

_You'll regret this, _he had warned her.

She closed her eyes. Now she understood why he did not seem disturbed by her own actions. Because he was becoming like her. A machine. A weapon. She bit her lip, her forehead wrinkling. She was keenly aware that the time devices were in a safe in Dr. McCoy's laboratory. She knew he had fixed them after the mission, as he had been alarmed when she did not have one to return to him afterward. Hers had been destroyed, but there were others. Definitely two. Was it worth the risk? Why _hadn't _the X-men made an attempt? Perhaps they had, but lacked her precision? She should most likely make the attempt alone. No, if she had learned anything about time travel, it was that one should not travel alone. She hesitated, then looked toward the laboratory. She knew Dr. McCoy was off-island right now. There would be no better moment.

* * *

Her knuckles rested on the door. She had been standing here for two minutes already, motionless, not sure whether she was making the right choice. The devices felt heavy in her other hand. Which was ridiculous. She knew they each weighed only 372.5 grams.

_Inaction is the greatest shame. _Her sensai's voice rung in her ears. She had been six years old when he told her this, scolding her for hesitating to charge at him with a katana. Her face prickling unpleasantly, Laura took a deeper breath and completed the knocking motion. _Rap rap rap. _

A few moments passed. Nothing happened. _Rap rap ra-_

"WHAT?!" Julian roared in her face, having ripped the door open with his mind. "What do you people _WANT _from me?" He paused, seeming to focus on her face. "Oh. Great. _You. _Come to recruit me for Cyclops's secret murderers club? There a secret handshake? Might have a little _trouble _with that, y'know." His words were slightly slurred. And she smelled alcohol. She leaned slightly to the side, and saw that there was a bottle of whiskey on his desk. His room was dark.

Julian's face darkened. "Hey. Eyes up here, _clone. _And yeah, not a pet name anymore. You and me...we're not friends, got it?"

Laura's eyebrows drew together.

"Fucking…" he turned and disappeared into his room.

After a moment she followed. She stood in the doorway, watching as he grabbed the bottle and sank down on the lower bunk of the bunk bed.

"Just unreal. You...you work for that guy...who's so fuckin' delusional...world's biggest hyppocrite...like _come on_, Laura. I'm disappointed." He fumbled to unscrew the cap on the bottle, then blasted it off with his mind, and took a swig. "Everything in my life _sucks_ because of him. My family abandoned me…Sofia dumped me like I never mattered….friends just fucked off...I don't even have motherfucking _hands _anymore, and you know who came to see me in the infirmary? That's right—NO ONE!" He jumped to his feet, glared at her, his eyes glowing green. "And he had the fucking _nerve _to preach that _bullshit _to me?! WHAT THE FUCK?! Laura, how can you-how can you _LISTEN _to that shit?! I thought you were-" the glow in his eyes faded, and she saw that he was looking down at her hand, the one holding the time devices. "The fuck're those?"

Laura said nothing.

"Oh my god." Julian took a step back, put the bottle down on his desk, and sank down on the edge of the bed again, covering his face with his prosthetic hands. He said nothing for a long while.

She finally cleared her throat.

He looked over his fingers. "I just…if you're changing your mind...time travel...god, I've hit rock bottom, haven't I? _You're _worried about me?"

Laura said nothing. But she did nod, very slightly. She _was_ concerned for him.

"Fucking hell." He squeezed his eyes shut. "This can't be happening. This _can't _be my _life." _Pause. He jumped to his feet and grabbed the bottle with his mind. "Okay. Let's do this shit. I need a sweater. Fuck, should I pack anything? Will it take long?"

"No. Once we are there, we cannot stay more than 33.2 hours." Laura paused. "A sweater may be good. And...leave the bottle."

"I _wasn't _going to take it!" He paused, took one more long swig, then set it back on the table and shook his head. "For courage, y'know. Fuck, where did I put my sweater?" He spent the next five minutes trying to locate his sweat jacket, which Laura eventually noticed was hanging on the back of his door.

"Thanks." He shrugged it on, then held out his prosthetic hand. "Fork it over, clone."

Laura raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh come on. I was _mad._" Julian rolled his eyes. "It's a pet name again."

She slowly handed the time piece to him, hoping she would not end up regretting this decision too.

"Great." He fumbled for about a minute, trying to fasten the strap, then looked at her. "Can you help me?" His voice was small.

"Yes." Laura fastened the band around his prosthetic wrist, her eyebrows pressing together. "We will need to transport ourselves to New York."

Julian's forehead wrinkled. "You mean, these won't just do it for us?"

"No."

"..." He bit his lip. "I don't know if I can fly us there anymore. My power levels fell a lot after I saved you that one time."

"Yes."

"Let's find Pixie then." He ripped open his door again with his mind as he headed outside. "Come on!"

* * *

Pixie had been watching TV in the lounge with several others when they finally located her. She wrinkled her nose at their request for a teleport. "Ewww! You're probably going off to _murder _someone! No way I'm a part of this. I-"

Laura thought for a moment, then bent down and whispered in the girl's ear.

"..." Pixie slunk down deeply into the couch, her eyes widening and her face turning beet red. "Excuse me, guys."

Julian raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

A moment later, they followed the shorter girl out into the hallway that led to the lounge. Her wings fluttered, and she was mumbling under her breath. Finally she turned to Laura and glared at her. "Blackmail is _not _cool."

Laura said nothing.

"Whatever." Pixie closed her eyes. "Just...don't tell anyone, kay? And where am I porting you to?"

"The old site of the Xavier Institute."

The other girl's eyes flew open again, and she gaped at her. "But we're not supposed to go there! Guys, that's _off-limits!_" Pause. "Ohmigod, you _are_ going to murder someone, aren't you?! Ohmigod! You-"

Laura made a face. Pixie's voice was growing higher in pitch. "Please, stop. We are not murdering anyone."

"I dunno, to be honest, I kind of want to murder _her._" Julian paused. "Think anyone would notice if she disappeared?"

Pixie looked alarmed. "Hey, you can't-"

"Yes." Laura paused. "You are wasting time."

Julian rolled his eyes. "Just port us already. And don't tell anyone where we went, got it?"

Wing flutter. She nodded, her eyes still wide.

* * *

Once they were alone, standing in the front yard of the old Xavier estate, Laura cleared her throat. "We need to choose a time and date to enter."

Julian thought for a moment. "Things turned to shit after the bus blew up. That. Definitely that." Pause. "April 4th, 2006. Five thirty-six p.m."

Laura gave him a surprised look. She had not expected him to be precise.

"I know that date better than my own birthday." He shrugged. "That's when part of me a while for the rest, but it'll happen soon enough the way things are going."

"We should travel back to a slightly earlier point. Five o' clock." She entered the information into her device, then noticed him struggling to press the buttons. He had entered a 1 after the first 0, meaning he would be sent to the future. She sighed slightly, then brushed his prosthetic fingers away and programmed it for him.

"Thanks," he mumbled, glancing at her through his bangs. He had let his hair grow since moving to Utopia, and it now brushed the collar of his t-shirt. "You sure you want to help me do this?"

"I think you cannot do it without my help, so yes." Laura felt surprised. Where had that come from?

"_Ouch._" Julian grinned slightly. "Attitude. Good look on you, clone."

"..."

"Not going to stop calling you that."

Laura said nothing.

"So what do we do next? Hit the big button?"

"Yes." Laura paused, seeing that he was about to press two buttons at once. "Stop. I will press it for you."

"Great, I'm definitely at rock bottom." He rolled his eyes. "Clone doesn't even trust me to press a _button._"

"You are going to press both the _Send _and _Return _buttons simultaneously. I am not sure what will happen if you do."

"...probably nothing worse than has already happened to me." He paused, and held out his wrist. "Thanks," he grumbled.

Laura said nothing. But she pressed the buttons.

* * *

_**04/04/2006  
**__**17:00 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

"HYURRRK!" Julian was on his hands and knees, heaving violently into the grass.

This was the first thing Laura became aware of, after everything stopped warping and shifting around her. Her own stomach swam, but it soon calmed. She suspected he was having a more difficult time due to the liquor he had consumed. Perhaps the vomiting would help to sober him up more quickly.

"...goodddd…" Julian hung his head, shaking slightly. "That...that sucked...why d-didn't...you warn me?!"

"I did not think about it." Laura paused. "You have vomit in your hair."

"..." He glared at her out of the corner of his eye.

She said nothing.

He sat up, a little unsteadily. "Can I borrow your claws?"

Laura raised an eyebrow.

"You know…" He gestured to his head. "Cut it...off."

"Your hair?"

He gave her a flat look. "No, my entire head. _Yes _my hair. Jesus, Laura."

"We cannot waste time. After 33 hours, we must leave, or risk damage."

"I'm not walking around with puke head." He folded his arms. "And you told me this wouldn't take long."

Laura sighed, then made a fist. _Snkkt! _"How much?"

Julian thought for a moment. "All of it. Just don't scalp me, please."

"Okay."

About a minute later, she ran her claw one last time over his head, very carefully. She was not certain she had ever been more gentle in using them. Most of her usage was graceful, but forceful. Stabbing motions. Twisting motions. Not skimming.

_Snakkt, _as she withdrew the claw. "There."

He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, then frowned, probably as he realized he couldn't feel the results. "Thanks."

She said nothing.

He got to his feet. "Let's go find that fucking bus."

They began their trek across the empty lawn, out toward the gravel parking lot on the side of the school, where the bus had been parked. Laura cast a glance around their surroundings every so often to make sure that no one was approaching. Everyone was inside, probably either packing or participating in the training exercises David had created, but she felt it was best to be careful. There was no telling what would happen if they ran into the past versions of themselves. Probably nothing good.

"So weird to be back here." Julian was looking up at the large brick structure of the school. "Like nothing happened."

"Nothing _has_ happened."

"Well, yeah. Obviously." He glanced at her, grinning. "Damn. That means _we're _in there right now. Wouldn't it be insane if we went in and saw ourselves?"

"Yes." Laura gave him a flat look. "You would be insane to do that."

"..." He rolled his eyes. "I'm not _gonna. _I just-"

"Hello, can I help you?" a soft, heavily accented voice asked.

They both froze. There was a girl standing ahead of them. A girl with very long brown hair, carrying a suitcase and pulling another behind her. Laura did not know her well, but enough to know that this was-

"...Sofia…" Julian whispered this under his breath. His eyes had widened, the pupils constricting into points.

Laura stared at him. He was "lighting up" right now: his pulse and breath quickening, his temperature rising slightly. Even his scent was changing. And her throat felt tight. She blinked, surprised. She had never thought about the fact that he could have this reaction too, and to someone else. All she knew was that she did not like it.

"Did you-did you just say my name?" Sofia put the suitcase she was carrying down and started to walk toward them.

"We should run." Laura said this firmly.

Julian shook his head slightly, not even looking away from the other girl.

"Do I know you?" Sofia was almost in front of them now.

"Uh-" he hesitated, closed his eyes, then shook his head slightly. "I'm-Sof, it's _me, _don't you recognize me?"

"..." She squinted slightly. "Julian?"

Laura folded her arms, and gave him an irritated look. Not only was she displeased with his reaction, but he was putting them in danger.

He ignored her glare. "Y-yeah."

Sofia frowned. "Why do you look so...Julian, you look _terrible. _What is going on?"

He flinched slightly. "Uh...really?"

"Well-your hands, to begin with. What-where are you hands? And you look...tired...thinner." She paused. "Your haircut is also terrible."

Laura made a soft sound of disbelief.

Sofia glanced at her. "Who is _she?_"

"This is…" Julian glanced at Laura briefly. "My friend, Laura. She's helping me with...you weren't on the bus, right?"

"Bus?" Sofia frowned. "What are you talking about?"

He hesitated. "The bus. It's going to get blown up. We're-we're from the future, and-"

"Julian!" Laura's tone was severe, as was her expression. "Stop talking, _now._"

"She deserves to know!" He glared at her. "She has friends on that bus too."

"..." Sofia's eyebrows drew together. Then she said something in a foreign language, under her breath. "Are you here to stop it?"

"Yeah." Julian brightened. "We're going to take care of _everything. _Don't worry." He paused. "Look...why did you leave without saying goodbye to me?"

"Oh…." she looked pained. "I do not want to get into that."

"C'mon, beautiful." He reached out, touched her chin with his prosthetic fingers. "Talk to me."

Laura folded her arms again, her eyes narrowing. She felt tense.

Sofia sighed, smiled slightly at him. "I-I know-or I _knew_...I guess...I am not certain how to say it, since I am still in the process of leaving right now…that you will be hurt."

"It hurt just as much to have you go." His eyebrows drew together. "Sof, come on. Stay. I'll keep you safe, okay? If it was what I said before-just ignore it. I was scared...so I said some stupid shit. I promise, I won't say it again."

Sofia gave him a sad look. "You know that is not true."

"..." Julian frowned. "They're just words. Don't you love me, too?" His voice was soft.

_Snkkt. _

Both of them glanced at Laura, who was staring at them, her hands forming fists at her sides, her claws having ejected.

She closed her eyes and retracted them with a _Snakkt. _She wanted nothing more than to run, somewhere, anywhere that she could be alone, but she reminded herself to focus on the mission. They would need to find somewhere to wait that the bus would be visible and they would be hidden.

"Julian." Sofia smiled slightly, reaching up and wrapping her fingers around his prosthetic ones. "I do love you. But...we would never work. You know this already."

"...why?" He looked confused. "You're everything I want."

"That is not true." Sofia paused. A horn honked, from the parking lot. "I have to go now. Good luck with your task."

"No! Wait!" Julian leaned forward and kissed her.

This time, there was no sound of claws, as Laura was already walking toward the parking lot, her back stiff, her lip curled. She had sensed what was coming next. She had seen him kissing Nori once, and that had been upsetting. She was not certain if she would be able to control herself if she saw this, but she also knew that Julian would not like it if she killed the other girl. It was best if she simply removed herself from the situation.

She reached the gravel and stopped, looking around for the bus, but not seeing it anywhere. Only a limo, presumably waiting for Sofia. Were they too early? No, this was the correct day; Laura remembered that Sofia had left before the explosion. She also remembered that it had been determined that the missiles were launched from the ground, meaning the perpetrators would probably soon be here. It would be best if she could locate them and kill them before they had a chance to shoot, as she knew it would be noticeable if Julian stopped them with his mind. And they definitely could not afford that. Sofia seeing them had been bad enough, but she suspected there would be some sort of disaster if they saw themselves.

Footsteps, behind her. And the suitcase being dragged again.

Sofia cleared her throat. "Laura-it was good to meet you."

Laura closed her eyes and said nothing.

After a moment, the footsteps and suitcase sound resumed, followed by voices as Sofia conversed with the driver of the limo. Then she was gone, and everything was silent.

Not for long. A minute later, Julian landed roughly beside her, showering her with gravel. "There you are! I-"

Laura brushed some pebbles off her shoulders and gave him a cold look. "Be quiet."

"Sorry, kind of fucked up on the landing, huh?" He reached out and dusted the rest off of her with his mind, then rubbed his nose with his sleeve.

She smelled salt. He had been crying. This thought disturbed her in a very confusing way. She folded her arms and concentrated on the parking lot.

"Laura...are you mad at me?"

Her lip curled. "No." But even she was not convinced.

Silence.

"Look, I couldn't help it, okay? Losing Sofia...that was one of the things that really fucked me up. She's the love of my life, and I just-"

"Be quiet." Laura paused, cleared her throat. "The intruders will be here soon. We should hide."

Julian gave her a puzzled look. "I thought you wanted to help me. We're friends, right?"

She closed her eyes, nodded slightly.

"Friends are supposed to be there for each other, you know. You should hear me out." He paused. "And then when _your _life falls apart, I'll listen to _you_, that's how it works."

She said nothing.

"Whatever." Julian folded his arms. "Forgot you're miss perfect for a minute there. Let myself think you cared about me, but I forgot you don't care about anyone, _clone_."

Laura's nostrils flared. "Julian. I do _not_ want to talk about this." Her voice was firm. "I will _never _want to talk about this. Be quiet."

"..." He raised an eyebrow. "So you _are_ mad at me."

She said nothing.

"Clone, I get that you have a massive crush on me." He paused. "It's pretty cute. Guess you have good taste. I just...I'm not over her, okay?"

"I did not ask."

"No, but I thought you needed to hear." He paused. "If I had never met Sofia...it'd be a different story. I'd be all over you. But I _did_ meet her, and I'm not ready for anything else. Okay?"

Laura said nothing.

"We cool, clone?" he pressed.

"Be quiet."

"No, I need to know-"

She shushed him, frowning as she concentrated. She thought she could hear the sound of a far off engine. The bus was approaching. "You need to hide. Be prepared to shield the bus if I fail."

"If you-" Julian folded his arms. "Hey! You're not doing this without me."

Laura began to walk, allowing herself to concentrate on her senses again. She was aware that Julian was following her, but did not feel like arguing more, and the time was clearly drawing near. The Purifiers would arrive soon.

She stopped, as she caught a scent. A scent that did not belong at the school. A blend of chemicals. "They are close."

"Lead the way."

She resumed, slowly releasing her claws at her side as she followed the scent trail through the bushes to a nearby field. Through the foliage, she could see two men standing around, conversing with each other. One was carrying a large rocket launcher, the other was holding a large bag. Probably full of spare ammunition. Her eyes narrowed, and she pointed toward them.

"..." Julian exhaled through his nose, hard. "I want to make it hurt."

Laura shook her head. "It would be better if you took them out from here. Aneurysms."

"That's too easy."

She gave him an impatient look. "I thought you wanted to save your friends."

"_Our _friends." He paused. "You're right. Okay. Hang on...got to remember how I did it the first time…" he trailed off, his eyebrows drawn together. He was speaking about Omega Sentinel.

She waited.

Finally he reached out toward the men, his eyes glowing green. "Fuck off and _die_." He held out his prosthetic hand, and the man holding the launcher suddenly keeled over. The other one started, looking around. But then Julian gestured at him, and he fell down too.

And then there was nothing, just two men lying in a field. A cricket chirped in the distance.

"Oh my god...was...was that _it_?" Julian gave Laura a bewildered look. "Is it over? Did we fix it, that easily?"

"No." Laura headed over toward the men, her eyes on the rocket launcher. She bent down and picked it up, her fingers running over the smooth, dark metal surface.

"What are we doing now?" He had followed her.

"They will send more men. We need to destroy the Purifier headquarters." She shouldered the rocket launcher over her shoulder. "End the threat."

"Fuck, yeah!" He paused. "But-do you know where it is?"

"Yes." Laura glanced at him. "I do. When I saved Sooraya, I went there."

"..." Julian grinned. "_Damn. _Okay, tell me where to take us."

Laura felt a slight tingling at his admiring glance, but forced herself to ignore it. "The East side of Manhattan. I will give more instructions when we are closer."

He reached out his hand, and after a moment she accepted it.

* * *

"Down there. The grey concrete building." Laura pointed with her free hand. "We will cause more damage if we are inside."

"I can't believe this is happening." Julian paused. "So, what after? We just take our watches off and everything will be back to normal?" He shifted the bag of extra ammunition on his shoulder.

"Perhaps." Laura hesitated. "If our assumption was correct."

"Right." He looked down at the church, his lip curling. "How can it not be? The Purifiers started everything...so if we end them...and end Nimrod before he can fuck anything up…"

She nodded. "Put us down."

He wasted no time in lowering them toward the ground, down to the sidewalk in front of the church steps. Above these, the large doors loomed. They were oak, with stained glass windows on the top, and heavy handles made of what looked like ornately molded cast iron.

"Ready?" he asked her.

Laura pulled the launcher off her shoulder and checked that it was loaded, then nodded, her expression serious. "Be prepared to give me the rest."

"Yep."

They began to climb. At the top, Julian reached out and blasted the doors out of the way, revealing the large, cavernous insides of the structure. Heads turned. There were many men-and women-dressed in dark robes. Edged with red trim. Laura remembered these outfits from when they had attacked the school.

"Do it." Julian hissed this. "Let's see how they like a taste of their own medicine."

Laura obeyed.

* * *

"We need to leave!" Laura hissed, grabbing Julian's wrist as he began to enter the smoking ruins. "If something happens to us here-" Several large chunks of concrete collapsed beside them, as if in support of her point.

"No!" He glared at her. "I want to make sure they're all gone! I want them to _suffer _for what they did to us! I want-"

"We have undone everything they did. Now it is time to go back." She gave him a stern look. "If we stay too long, we will begin to die. I do not want to risk it. We do not have Elixir to heal us."

"..." Julian gritted his teeth. "Fine." He held up his hand and started to tug at the watch around his wrist. "Damn it, it won't-"

"Here." She turned his wrist over, pressed the _Return_ button, and watched as he faded from existence, as if he had never been. She took a deep breath then pressed her own _Return _button, hoping that whatever world she was about to step into was better than the one they were leaving behind.

* * *

_FOOTNOTE: For those readers who have been following my work for a while, I apologize for disappearing. My father passed this January. It was a very sad, complicated, and overwhelming situation. To make things worse, my job suddenly became almost unmanageable, and I have been working about 60-65 hours a week since February, with almost no time off (even working on the weekends). I'm still recovering from all of this, and this period of job demand may not yet be over, as the suspension of overtime at my job is temporary while a policy is being reworked. In summary, please bear with me if you're waiting for updates on other stories. I intend to continue them, but need to reread the previous material first to figure out where I left off, as the past six months has completely disrupted all of my ongoing creative projects and processes. In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy this story, which I started during this temporary relaxation of my schedule. I will update as I am able._


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Thanks for all the kind wishes and support. It means a lot to me.

My time continues to be under high demand, with almost 12 hours of work this weekend. I recognize it's not a great situation, but must bear with it until some other situations in my life have resolved. Then I will look for "more merciful" employment (hahaha thanks for that Thorber Stone, I feel like I should put that as an objective on my resume). Being an adult sucks doesn't it? :') Ah well, let us escape into the world of Helix, where life also sucks but in a much more interesting way...

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

_**04/02/2011  
19:38 EST  
East Manhattan, NY**_

"LAURA LOOK OUT!"

The space around her had barely stopped shifting and swirling when she was knocked sideways off her feet, and into the nearby street. Which was full of cracks, and ash. She skidded to a halt, confused. Had the return sequence not worked? What was-

There was a large flash of light all around them.

"Ahhh!" Julian shielded them, both with his mind and with his body.

_CHOOOOM!_

"What-" Laura looked up at him, her forehead wrinkled. "What is happening?"

"I don't know, but there's a Nimrod on our asses!" He gritted his teeth. "Lucky that was just a laser blast-but the second it hits us with antimatter, we're toast."

"Can you fly?"

"Let's find out." He scooped her off the ground and shot into the air. "Yeah, we're-"

"TARGETS LOCKED! CEASE AND DESIST, MUTANTS!" The Nimrod was following them into the sky, painting a red target onto Julian's shoulder. "CHARGING ANTIMATTER IN 5...4…"

"Oh my fucking god! HANG ON!" He closed his eyes, and suddenly they were hurtling across the sky.

The wind screamed in her ears, probably because he was concentrating all his efforts on motion rather than shielding. She peered over his shoulder and saw that the Nimrod was actually keeping pace with them. "Julian! It is _following _us!"

"..." His eyes closed. "Need to...get to the school…" they were flying faster. The landscape under them was changing rapidly, becoming greener. And then, suddenly, they were above the school.

Laura recalled something Cyclops had once told her, about the school's aerial defenses. "Lower us!"

"Yeah...I was...gonna…" Julian paused. Then his eyes stopped glowing, and they were falling. Hurtling towards the ground. Laura managed to twist around so she hit the ground first.

_SNAP! _The sound of several of her bones shattering under their combined weight. Then the _clicks _as they knitted back together. She pushed him out of the way and looked up fearfully. If the Nimrod had pursued them here, and Julian was unconscious, she wouldn't be able to stop it from hurting them.

Nothing happened. The night sky was black and calm, the stars twinkling gently. She let out a breath. It seemed they had made it. She let herself sink back into the grass and catch her breath. It still hurt slightly to breathe.

"Mmm...Laura?" Julian sounded groggy. He raised his head slightly from where it rested on her stomach. "Where…"

"We are alive."

"Cool." He paused. "Just gonna...gonna take a nap...if'st…kay..." he trailed off, his eyes sliding shut again.

After a moment, Laura closed her eyes too.

* * *

"What the-" Julian sat up suddenly, his forehead wrinkled. "Laura?! Laura, where are you?!" He scrambled to his feet, took a few steps, and collapsed again, his head swimming. He paused, then sat up again more slowly and looked around.

The school loomed above him. But it didn't look right. The bricks were dark, as if scorched, and there were vines growing up one side. Covering windows. Come to think of it, all the windows were dark.

It was abandoned.

His eyebrows drew together.

"Julian?" came Laura's voice from nearby.

He looked around. "Where _are_ you?"

"Over the hill."

He made a motion to stand up, but he started to feel dizzy again, so he crawled toward her voice. Just over the ridge, she was sitting beside a fire, rotating a small spit with what looked like a squirrel on it.

"What's happening?" he asked. "Did we come back to the wrong time or something?"

"No." Laura looked up at him. "I think we caused this with our actions."

"What-no way!" Julian gritted his teeth. "We put an end to the Purifiers."

"And Stryker retaliated." She paused. "He expanded his contract with Weapon X, for more Predator X models. He then found a way to bring Mastermold here. They attacked the school...and now most of the X-men are dead. So far, I found records for Nori, Victor, David, Emma Frost, and Logan-"

"What-what records?!" Julian blurted this.

"In the school." Laura nodded to the large, dilapidated building. "I found old paper files on a desk used by multiple individuals. Hope is dead, too. The X-men disbanded and now mutants are hunted in the streets. That is when the records ended. I do not know if anything else happened." She paused. "We should be safe as long as we remain here, and do not draw attention to ourselves. There are shields in place masking our genetic signatures from long-range sensors."

"..." Julian closed his eyes. _"Fuck." _He paused, looked down at his hands, which were still prosthetics."Wait-so why'd I lose my hands in this...timeline?"

She frowned. "Your file said they had been bitten off by one of the Predator X's."

"Sorry I asked." He paused. "Why're you roasting a squirrel?'

"You need food to replace the energy you burned flying us here."

"So why not just grab lunch somewhere?"

"..." Laura gave him a look of disbelief. "Were you not listening to me?"

"Oh." He paused. "The hunting shit. Right." He sighed, then crawled the last few feet to the edge of the ridge and slid down to join her. "So basically, we just made things suck a million times more?"

"Yes."

He folded his arms. "Guess we gotta try again then?"

"Probably."

"What do you think we should change this time? The bus was my idea, maybe it's your turn?"

"I don't know."

"Oh come on." He frowned. "You've got to have some ideas. You_ always_ know what to do."

She said nothing, just turned the spit again. Her eyes were trained on the ground.

"Laura...we'll figure it out. Don't worry." He put his hand on her shoulder, squeezed it. "We have the watches, and we have each other. That's all we need."

She glanced at his hand, then at him. "Do not touch me."

He paused. "You still sore about Sofia?"

Laura closed her eyes. "No."

"Give me a break." He reached up and ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't...grr. She just...I'm not over her." Pause. "Should I lie about it?"

She said nothing.

He sighed. "I don't want it to be some weird thing between us, okay? We've got bigger problems right now. Look, let's, like, go for coffee or something after we fix the timeline. Talk. Figure out where we stand."

Laura gave him a small slantwise glance.

"Okay?" he pressed.

"Okay." Her voice was quiet.

"Good clone."

The corners of her lips turned down.

"Fuck, relax. I told you, it's-"

"A pet name." Her lip curled. "I don't want to be your pet. Your _thing._"

"..." His forehead wrinkled. "No, it's _affectionate, _jeez. I didn't mean-you're obviously a person, Laura."

She said nothing. But the snarl had disappeared.

"I can't believe I'm saying that, but that squirrel ready? I'm starving."

Laura peered at the spit and nodded.

* * *

"So, again...any ideas where we're going next?" Julian was asking this after they had finished eating, and he was leaning back on the grass, the color having returned to his face. "The only thing I've got is thinking bigger and undoing M-day completely...go K/O Scarlet Witch before she can cause all our problems."

"K/O?"

"Knock Out." He paused, seeing her blank expression. "Take her down."

Laura nodded. "Yes. I was thinking that too."

"What, really?" He grinned. "Great minds."

"Great minds?"

"Yeah. Great minds think alike?"

"They do?"

"Well, yeah." He paused. "Except I have to admit, I doubt I'm as smart as you are. You're always, like, twenty steps ahead of me."

Laura said nothing. But the corners of her lips turned upward.

"Huh." He raised an eyebrow. "Don't see you smile much."

She lowered her gaze and said nothing.

"The only problem with the Scarlet Witch idea...is we have no idea when or where she was when she cast the M-day spell." He frowned. "I'm assuming we would want to stop her right at that moment...or we might screw more stuff up."

"Yes." Laura paused, nodded to the school. "The information is probably in the Cerebra files. If it is intact and we can get it to work."

He stared at her. "Holy shit. You're right!" He scrambled to his feet, then almost fell down again. "God damn it!"

Laura got up and draped his arm over her shoulder. "Lean on me."

"Thanks." He mumbled this.

* * *

"This is soooo weird." Julian murmured this, peering in through the door they had just opened to the darkened interior of the school

All was silent, except for a gentle creaking in the background.

Laura's eyebrows drew together. "No one has been here in many years." She nodded to the thick layer of dust on the floor.

"Hold on, can't see." He held his hand up and ran energy through his fingers, filling the hallway with a green glow. "_Damn. _No kidding."

Laura studied his profile in the light, running her eyes over the shape of his brow, his nose. They were very pleasingly shaped. Like one of the marble sculptures she had seen in Megan's textbook during the short time she had accompanied her cousin to her school. The irritation she felt with him over his interaction with Sofia was fading, and she was becoming keenly aware of the fact that he was pressed up against her side, leaning slightly on her for balance. For a moment, she imagined that he had kissed _her _instead. What would it feel like? Her eyebrows drew together. Her eyes slipped down to his mouth. This was a pointless exercise. He did not "light up" for her as she did for him. This would never happen. He would never see her as more than a clone, a killer, a machine-she stepped in a weak spot in the floor, and her footing suddenly disappeared.

"FUCK!" He yelled as he slammed to his knees.

She fared little better, almost crashing through the floor into the basement, clawing desperately at the jagged edges of the hole. After she gained a grip, she bowed her head in shame. What would her sensei say if he could see her now? Worse-her eyes flew open at this thought-she was certain _Sofia_ would not have made such an error. The thought made her face hot, and she had a momentary desire to let go and finish being consumed by the dusty floor.

"What the-Laura!" Julian scrambled to the edge of the hole and held out his prosthetic hand. "Grab it!"

She eyed it.

His lip curled. "So, you're just like everyone else, huh? Don't want to touch the cripple, even to save your life?"

Laura's eyebrows drew together. "No, I am wondering if it is well enough attached to support my weight." She paused. "And I will not die if I fall."

"Right." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm holding it put with my mind. It's not going to pop off."

She carefully transferred one of her hands from the beam she was holding onto, to his. He heaved her up roughly, obviously not trusting the reason she had given him, then immediately let go of her and made a point to wipe his hand on his pants. "Gross, you got your clone DNA all over it." His voice was sour.

Laura closed her eyes. No, he would never see her that way.

"Why'd the floor give out like that in the first place?" His tone was back to normal.

"There is a leak in the ceiling."

"You know that how?"

"I can smell the rotting wood."

"You couldn't have smelled it before you busted my kneecaps?" Julian folded his arms. "What the hell had you so distracted?"

"..." Laura paused. "Nothing."

He raised an eyebrow. "Mmmkay."

Silence. She looked down at the hole.

He did too. "So, since the floor is rotten and you kind of just made an entry point, should we take a shortcut? I'm pretty sure I can handle flying us now."

Laura considered this. "Okay."

A moment later, they were zipping downward, through the basement. Julian reached out and blasted another hole in the floor, and then they were in the sub-basement.

"Sure is dark in here." He mumbled this as he set them down, then held his hand up and let energy flow to his fingertips again.

"Yes."

"You'll be able to hear if anything's coming to gank us, right?" His voice shook very slightly.

Laura detected some adrenaline in his scent. "Yes."

"And _you're _not going to gank me, right?"

"..." She looked at him, nose wrinkling. "No, why?"

"Dunno, you were just looking at me funny earlier. Like you were going to attack me or something."

She felt a rush of hot shame. He had _noticed _her survey of his features? "N-no."

"Cool. Well, let's get moving." He looked around their surroundings. "I think we might be near the Danger Room. Which means we should take a right, then a left, then another right to Cerebra."

Laura shook her head. "Left, right, left."

"No, right, left, left."

"You said right, left, right."

"No! I said left, right, left."

"..." She shook her head and began to walk.

"Hey!" Julian rushed after her, catching her hand with his prosthetic one. "We always wait for each other, okay?"

She glanced down at their joined appendages. "Okay."

* * *

A few minutes, and a few wrong turns later, they had arrived at the big metal X-door of the Cerebra room.

"Crap, forgot about the door." Julian ran his hand over it. "Going to take a lot of juice to pry it open...can you cut it?"

"Probably." Laura made a fist. _Snkkt! _"Move out of the way." She ran her claw near the edge of the door, all the way around. "There, it-"

The large, thick circle of metal began to tip toward her. Before she could move, she was felt a tug on her navel and was yanked backwards. There was a loud _crash _that made the halls around the echo.

"Careful." Julian mumbled, almost in her ear.

She froze, and shivers ran down her neck and shoulders. She gritted her teeth and hoped he did not notice. "Thank you."

He brushed past her and climbed over the door, into the dark chamber. "God this place is _creepy _without power. Wonder if it's haunted."

"Haunted?"

"You know, ghosts."

"Ghosts?"

"Nevermind, forgot you were never a normal kid."

Laura said nothing.

They reached the Cerebra computer, a station beside the catwalk out to the main unit.

"Fuck...guess we need _electricity _to run a computer." Julian looked at her. "Any ideas, clone?"

"No." Laura frowned. "Other than take the hard drive and find a working computer, but that would be challenging and dangerous."

"Two of my favorite words." He grinned at her, then glanced at Cerebra. "Hey, doesn't that have some kind of think where TK's can boost the power? I remember they built it for Jean Grey. Maybe I can get it going?"

"You could try." Laura paused. "Be careful. Do not overexert yourself again."

"I won't." He headed to the station and sat down in the chair, then picked up the helmet off the console and blew off a large cloud of dust. "Here goes nothing."

The moment the helmet touched his head, the console lit up. Along with the hundreds of screens that lined the rounded interior of the room. And the computer station that Laura still stood at.

"It is working." She began to access the files in the hard drive.

"Might be able to do it from here." Julian paused. "I'm not a telepath, but it's definitely responding to my mental energy, so maybe it doesn't matter. Cerebra, tell us when and where M-day started."

It made a series of beeping noises, but nothing happened.

Laura frowned. "I believe M-day is a colloquial term."

He looked over his shoulder. "You swallow a dictionary or something, clone?"

"Try search for the time and location for the source of the energy signature that caused the drastic decrease in the mutant population."

"Cerebra, tell me the time and location for the source of the energy signature that caused the drastic decrease in the mutant population."

A map formed on the many screens, with a small dot over the words _Lima, Peru. _Below it were a series of coordinates, and below that, the time and date:

_13:21 PET, 01/23/2005._

"Holy shit, we got it!" Julian paused. "Wait, you have a pen?"

"No, but I have eidetic memory."

"Eide...what?"

"Photographic memory would be the coll-"

"Nevermind." He paused. "Think there's still X-jets around here we could steal?"

"Possibly."

"Let's get this over with then." He paused, still holding the helmet. "Damn. Being here is so weird, but so cool. Like we're the original X-men." He glanced over his shoulder at Laura. "_We_ could've been, you know. I'm at least as powerful as Jean Grey...you're basically Wolverine. Could start our own team with that. When we get back, I mean."

Her eyebrows drew together. "We are not X-men." Her voice was heavy, serious. "X-men do not kill."

"..." His eyes narrowed. "Oh, don't _you_ start on me too, with that sanctimonious bullshit about how I'm supposed to be walking the straight and narrow. I couldn't handle it. You've got so much blood on your hands that you could fill an_ ocean_ with it."

"Yes." Laura paused. "I said '_we_ are not X-men.' In response to your suggestion that we could be."

Julian also paused. "Yeah, well, just 'coz we don't buy into the dumb ideology Cyclops is peddling, doesn't make us _monsters_. Just means we're not stupid. We know better."

She said nothing.

"So, what do you think about it, Laura?" His eyes were still trained on her. "About me killing Omega Sentinel? Tell me straight. Are you scared for me?" He paused. "_Of _me?"

Laura gazed at him.

His lip curled. "Answer, clone."

She closed her eyes. "I do not think anything at all about it." Pause. "That is why I am not an X-man." She could still hear Logan as he roared at her in the snow, pinning her up against a tree by her throat. These words now came from her lips. "They have two things that we will never get back. Hope and innocence. That is why we save them...why we risk our lives...and they are who we will die for."

Silence.

"That's fucked up." Julian sounded revolted. "Who told you that? Was it _Cyclops?_"

"No." She raised her chin. "I do not want to talk about this anymore." She turned away and climbed out of the Cerebra room.

"Wait-Laura! Where are you going?"

"To locate transport."

"Not without me." He followed her into the hallway, his expression full of uncertainty. "Okay...look...I get this is a touchy subject for you. But maybe...maybe we _should_ talk. You're the only person that doesn't seem to think I'm some kind of human disaster. I mean-" he reached up and rubbed his neck. "Wait, you _do _think that, don't you. That's why we started this whole time thing, right?"

"No."

"..." Julian gave her a look of surprise. "It's not?"

She shook her head.

His forehead wrinkled. "Why, then?"

She considered his question. It was no longer centered on her, so she did not feel threatened. "You were...unhappy."

He stared at her. "You're doing all of this 'coz I was _unhappy?_"

Laura nodded slightly.

"That's…" he hesitated. "I've never had anyone...you're probably the best friend I've ever had, you know that?"

Her eyebrows drew together.

Silence.

"Okay, well, enough of this sappy shit." Julian looked away. "Let's go find that goddamn jet and do what we came here to do."

* * *

"This looks familiar." Julian was looking up at the large, dark jet, frowning. "This isn't-"

"Yes." Laura headed toward the door on the side.

"It looks exactly the same."

"Yes."

"But we're not."

"Yes."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Actually, _you_ haven't changed much. Always with the one-word monotone answers."

"Yes."

"..." he paused and glanced at her, then noticed the corners of her lips had turned up. "Fuck right off."

"No."

The door to the jet opened, making a slight creaking noise.

Julian winced. "Damn, you sure it's safe to fly this thing?"

"No."

"..." he sighed. "Couldn't you lie now and then?"

"No." Laura moved over to the cockpit and sat down, her expression serious. "But you should be able to save yourself, if it is necessary."

"Yep." Julian sat down in the other seat. "Damn. Now we're taking the Blackbird out...getting serious X-men vibes again."

She gave him a flat look.

"Maybe it's just nostalgia." He paused. "Things sucked back then too...the bus...Sofia left...then Jay died...we were going out to fight Nimrod...but we still had _each other, _you know? When we moved to Utopia, that was like...the end. We just broke up and went our separate ways, like none of that even mattered."

"You are seeking to undo it entirely," Laura pointed out.

He paused. "Well, yeah…'coz none of it _did _matter in the end. More and more people died, and it's only a matter of time before it's my neck too. And what was it all for, then?"

She frowned. "I do not know."

"We'll fix things, don't worry. Just got to keep our goal in mind and find a way." He wrapped his prosthetic hands around the steering yoke. "Uhh...it's been a while since I...uh...flew one of these." Pause. "You know how, right?"

"Yes, but you said I should not fly again."

"..." he rolled his eyes. "One, that was because you and David _crashed_ the jet, and _two, _that was a totally different situation."

"How?"

"Shut up and get this thing going." He mumbled this.

"Okay." Laura reached up and began flipping switches on the panel. "Be prepared to clear obstructions out of the launch tunnel."

He grinned. "I did that last time, remember?"

"There may be new ones."

"Roger."

Soon, the jet was rolling slowly forward, the engine making a humming sound. Laura's eyes were fixed on the space ahead, her expression serious.

Julian eyed her for a few moments.

She turned her head, gave him a questioning look.

"Uh...so...you've got those coordinates memorized, right?"

"Yes."

"Read them out to me, and I'll plug them in."

A few minutes passed, with Julian trying to figure out the navigation system, and Laura eventually ordering him to be quiet so she could concentrate. The Blackbird passed through the last ten feet of the underground hanger, and entered the dark exit tunnel.

"Why does everything in here have to be so dark?" He complained.

"Because there is no light."

"..."

"Julian, ahead!"

He focused for a moment. "Got it. Damn-guess you were right. Must have been some erosion or something."

"Yes." One of the Blackbird's wings brushed the edge of the tunnel and drew a shower of sparks. "Protect the fuel tank!"

"The fuck is it?"

"Right side of the back."

"On it."

The humming of the engine ceased.

"What the-"

Laura realized the engine had stalled, but they were rapidly approaching the end of the tunnel. She could see the small patch of light ahead. They would drop directly into the ocean. Her eyes widened. "Julian, shield-"

"This is starting to feel like a goddamn video game." Julian reached forward and laid his prosthetic hands on the dashboard. "Hold on." He gritted his teeth, and a green glow began to spread from his fingers. A moment later, the jet burst out of the tunnel and into the air-and kept going. The green glow was now surrounding the entire jet.

Laura glanced at him, but he did not seem to be over exerting himself, so she said nothing, just sat back in her seat and watched the horizon, adjusting the steering yoke slightly every so often.

* * *

"Laura...getting tired…"

Laura awoke with a start. She looked around and saw that she was still in the jet, and that Julian was still carrying them, his hand pressed against the console, and his head bowed. Now there were beads of sweat on his forehead, rolling down to his nose. How long had he been carrying them? How long had she been asleep?

She looked at the navigation console. They were just over the New York-Pennsylvania state line. "Set us down. We need to fix the engine."

"...sure…" he partially opened his eyes. They were still glowing green. "Where?"

"There are fields nearby. Or the airport may be good. That is forty miles away, if you can last that long. We can likely find what we need there."

"Right." He swallowed. "I'll be fine. I got this."

The next few minutes passed in silence, with Julian shifting often, his eyebrows pressing together, his chin trembling. Next, he began to shake all over, just mildly at first, then more severely. He was not going to be able to carry them to the airport.

She began to enter searches on the navigation panel, for the nearest field. There was one well within their range. "Begin the descent. Gradually."

"We...there?"

"No." She paused. "You are not going to make it that far."

"I'm f-f-fine." Julian gritted his teeth. "I can-I can d-do this...I-"

"No, you cannot."

He opened his eyes slightly, glaring at her. "D-don't fucking t-t-tell me w-what I can't d-do. N-not you."

Laura gazed at him. His adrenaline levels She sensed he was using her, somehow, to continue his efforts. "You will fail."

"..." his eyes narrowed, and he looked ahead again. "Watch me, clone."

His shaking intensified. Now it was spreading to the entire aircraft. But they were also accelerating. Laura watched as their GPS dot jumped forward. They were closing in on the airport fast. She reached above her head and began to flip switches that would engage the landing gears. She suspected that she would need to be prepared to guide them, as he would likely be unable to do so.

A few moments later, the clouds in front of the Blackbird parted, and she could see the ground far below. "When you drop us, our bones will shatter. You will probably die, and I-"

"Shut _UP!" _Julian's prosthetic fingers curled on the console. "You always think you know _everything, _clone, well guess what-"

The jet lurched.

Laura's eyebrows drew together. "Are you losing consciousness?"

"Like hell I-" Julian's eyes dimmed, and then the glow disappeared. "-am." Then his lids slid shut, and he slumped back in his seat.

She looked at the rapidly approaching ground, took a deep breath, and tightened her grip on the steering yoke.


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Thanks for the reviews! Hopefully some answers will be found in this chapter. Other questions will be answered as the story progresses, so I don't want to give any spoilers. I will note: to anyone regulating the time system (in this story at least), almost all the time jumps will seem to happen instantaneously. We have a sense of time elapsing because we're following Julian and Laura, but to anyone monitoring the time stream, it would depend on where in the continuity they are doing that from. But all will be explained...hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
14:21 EST  
Easton, PA**_

Laura came to about twenty seconds after the impact, her ears ringing, and her nostrils filled with the scent of burning fabrics and plastics. The fire was quickly approaching the fuel tank. "Julian!" She reached over and shook his shoulder. He was slumped over the console."You need to-"

She stopped. He had no heartbeat. Her eyes sunk down to his abdomen, to the area where the steering column had been shoved into his torso, crushing it. Her eyebrows drew together. She had only moments to act. But that would be enough. She twisted her arm and punched in the numbers.

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
14:15 EST  
Easton, PA**_

"Laura...getting tired…"

Laura's eyes snapped open. She was sitting in the pilot's seat again, and Julian was still carrying them, his hand pressed against the console, and his head bowed, sweat rolling down his profile.

She paused. "Set us down, _now. _We need to fix the engine."

"...sure…" he partially opened his eyes. They were still glowing green. "Where?"

"There is a field a mile from here." Laura knew because they had passed it. This time, she did not mention the airport.

"Right." He swallowed. "I'll be fine. I got this. Could probably t-take us to the nearest-"

"No, you cannot."

Julian's lip curled. "Don't fucking tell me what I can't do, clone-"

"'Not you,'" Laura finished for him. "I have just returned from a future in which you failed. Please, begin lowering the jet while you have the strength to do so."

"..." He gritted his teeth. "Didn't need to know that."

"You would not listen otherwise."

"...fine." He gritted his teeth, but a few moments later, the aircraft began to lower itself incrementally.

Laura remained silent, hoping her choice of return time had been sufficient. What if he had too little energy left at this point? _Then I will return to an earlier point, _she told herself firmly.

The clouds began to part again. Far below, she could see the small field that they would attempt to land on. She began to switch on the relevant console switches, preparing herself again to steer the plane in for a landing, just in case.

Julian was beginning to tremble, and his face was filling with uncertainty. "Laura...j-just in c-c-case we...we d-don't...m-make it-"

"I told you that you cannot do this!" she snapped. "You are not capable!"

"Wha-" his eyebrows drew together. "The hell're you-"

She pointed ahead of them. "Focus!"

"...don't think I…"

The ground was rushing up to meet them, much too quickly. Laura closed her eyes. If her device was destroyed in the crash, she would not be able to save Julian again. She turned her wrist over and began punching in numbers. This time, she would allow herself longer to correct the error.

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
14:02 EST  
NY - PA Stateline**_

Laura sat bolt upright. "Julian, land the jet _now!_"

"Ahhh! What the-" he exclaimed, starting. And letting go of the console.

Her eyes widened. "No-"

"Fuck!" He slammed his prosthetic fingers back on the console. Green threads of energy began to spread again, but they disappeared almost instantly. "Shit-I'm out of juice." Julian paused. "Laura...I think we're in trouble."

She made an impatient noise and turned over her wrist.

"What're you-"

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
13:21 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

Laura's vision cleared just in time to see Julian about to climb the ramp of the Blackbird. She bounded up after him and grabbed his wrist, yanking him backward. "Do _not_ enter the jet!"

"..." he looked at her, his forehead wrinkled. "The fuck?"

"If you enter the plane, you will die. The engine will not carry us through flight. We must either repair it, or find another way."

His eyes widened. "Wait, did you-did you come from the _future?_"

Laura gave him a flat look. "Yes."

He paused. "Hold on...I'm just dealing with the fact that there are _two_ of you right now."

She made an impatient noise. "No. Clearly, I am the only one. I replaced my past self."

"This is getting weird."

"Yes."

Julian paused. "So, uh, what happened?"

"You caught the jet with your mind when we began to fall at the end of the tunnel, but could not carry us the whole way. The aircraft crashed several times."

He hesitated. "And I...died?"

She paused. "Once. The others, it was apparent that the situation would be fatal, and I did not want to risk my device being destroyed."

"Damn. Well, thanks, I guess."

Laura said nothing.

"So... you know anything about fixing jet engines?"

"I have some mechanical training." She moved over to the access port and looked at it for a moment. "I will most likely need the following tools…"

* * *

Some time later, Julian crouched down beside Laura. "Figure it out?"

She crawled back out from under the access port, her eyebrows drawn together. She reached up and wiped her forehead, then sat up, frowning. "The engine fan belt is damaged and will break if it is not replaced. We will need to find a new one."

"Shit." He frowned. "Don't think we can. The other jet was missing, and I doubt they just kept spare engine parts lying around. Besides, the X-jets are totally different from the Blackbird."

"Can you repair this one?"

He considered this. "Never hurts to try, right?"

"No." She shifted to the side so he could sit down, then watched as he pulled himself under the jet.

"Which part am I looking for?"

Laura sighed, then scooted back under the jet herself. "That."

"This tape-thing?"

She pointed. "The belt-"

"Got it." He reached up and ran energy through his fingers, then scowled. "No, dammit! It fell apart."

She sighed. "We will need to find another method of travel."

He turned his head to look at her. "Yeah. But we're not going to be able to use public transport, not with all the shit Stryker has. Other ideas?"

Laura bit her lip. "No."

Julian reached out and rubbed his prosthetic thumb over her forehead. "You had engine grease or something."

She said nothing, just watched him.

A moment passed.

He turned his head again and looked at the engine, his eyebrows drawn together. "There's...there's got to be a way we can get there, without dying. Just _think_. Is there anything here at the school? Like, a teleporting dohickey? We have time travel devices, so why not that?"

"I have not heard of any." Laura paused. "It may be worthwhile to look."

"Wait a minute. Why don't we just go back to when it was safe for us to travel? Then we can return when we're actually in Peru?"

"We have already recently spent several hours in the past...and I do not believe the biohazard estimate was correct. I do not think we would have enough time to travel with. Besides, we would need to remove our devices at the airport, and would be sent forward again."

"We could just go back to when the Blackbird was pristine."

Laura considered this. The Blackbird should be able to cover the distance much faster, if the engine was functional. Within several hours, at top speed. She glanced at him again. "We can try it. However, I do not know what will happen to our past selves at that time."

He grinned. "Let's not think too hard about it. So, when we going back to?"

"Perhaps 22 years, to be safe. Before we were born. Then we will avoid replacing ourselves at the school." She frowned. "I believe the Blackbird is approximately 25 years old. The X-men should have acquired it by that point."

"So...1989. I like it." Julian turned over his arm and began to punch in the numbers, sticking his tongue out as he tried to use just his fingertip.

"Your dexterity is improving." Laura paused. "Can you feel with your fingers?"

Julian hesitated. "No."

It was obvious that he did not want to discuss the topic, but still an improvement over his anger when she had looked at them before. She looked down at her own watch and began to type in the numbers, hoping that she would not need to do this many times more.

After a moment, they both pressed the _Send _buttons.

* * *

_**04/03/1989  
13:21 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

"Shit!" Julian rolled over and vomited on the floor, then groaned.

Laura sat up, frowning. The hangar was empty. The Blackbird was out on a mission.

"Fuck…" he sat up too, holding his head. "Never going to get used to that…wait...where the hell is the jet?!"

"Out." Laura got to her feet. "It is the primary transport for the X-men during this era."

"Aw, man." He struggled to get to his feet too, but failed. He accepted the hand she offered him, and swayed slightly, but did not collapse. "When'll it be back?"

Laura gave him an incredulous look. "Why would I know that?"

"..." Julian paused. "I have no idea anymore. My head hurts."

She glanced at the mess he had made on the floor. "Please clean that up."

"There a roll of paper towel in here? I don't want to use my mind."

"Again, there is no logical reason for me to know that."

"God, fine! Do you _have_ to be so you?"

"..."

Julian gritted his teeth and stomped toward the entry to the school.

There was a rumble in the distance. Then the sky split open. Or, more accurately, the upper hangar doors opened as the basketball court above lifted, and the Blackbird began to make its final descent.

"FUCK!" He panicked, grabbed Laura by her wrist and dragged her along toward a small closet where he'd found tools earlier.

They had barely closed the door behind them when the Blackbird finished touching down, and the side door began to open.

He closed his eyes. If either Logan or Jean Grey stepped out of that jet, they were both toast. But luck was on their side, as the person that stepped out of the jet was Scott Summers, unmistakable thanks to his red visor and rumbled brown hair. Although he looked much younger, and his outfit was only vaguely familiar, one that they had both seen in old photographs. He was dressed in a blue spandex uniform with yellow accents, including a piece that resembled a pair of speedos or brief underwear, and a pair of knee-high boots with padding. Across his chest was strapped a bandolier of some sort.

He whistled as he walked toward the door to the school, then began to slip in the puddle of vomit on the floor. "GAH!" as he almost fell.

Laura looked at Julian, her eyes narrowed.

He bowed his head.

"_Damn _Logan to hell." Cyclops mumbled this under his breath, as he looked down at the mess. "Told him if he couldn't keep it off campus, he should at least clean up after himself…" he looked around, then up. "Uh-Jean-be right in. I'm dealing with something quick." He paused, his forehead wrinkling. Then he headed for the door to the school, as if he had just received some news more serious than the puddle of vomit, although he did pause to wipe his boots aggressively on the doormat.

The pair in the closet relaxed.

Julian snorted.

Laura gave him a questioning look.

"I just...after all the shit he's done to mess up my life…" he grinned. "Let's just say it was one of the best things I've seen lately."

"Stop laughing and assist me with stealing the jet."

"Roger."

A few moments later, they were settling down in the cockpit. Laura noted that the interior smelled differently than it did the last time she was in here. A stronger scent to the leather. A faint whiff of chemicals. The scent of a new vehicle. As she thought, the X-men must have acquired the Blackbird recently.

"Everything should work the same, right?" Julian asked, as he wrapped his prosthetic fingers around the steering yoke. "I mean, other than the engine crapping out, right?"

"Presumably." Laura reached out and began flipping buttons

The engine started, a very gentle, almost silent hum. Clearly, it was in much better shape than before. She felt reassured. This time, it would work.

"HEY! GET OUTTA THERE!" a familiar, muffled voice yelled from outside. _Snikt!_

Laura's eyes widened. Logan. She had not expected for them to be discovered so quickly. "Julian-"

"On it." He reached out and swept the yellow-spandex blur that was Logan off of the jet's side and into the wall of the hangar with his mind. "We're good."

"Until the other X-men show up." Laura gave him a serious look. "Can you fight Jean Grey?"

"..." Julian paled. "We better get out of here."

Together, they turned the jet and started down the exit tunnel, gradually moving to full throttle for ground control. Laura tried to ignore the sounds of Logan roaring at them in the distance, knowing that they were running out of time if he had already called the others. The jet was halfway down the tunnel when she heard more faint voices in the distance, signalling that their time was up.

Laura glanced at her companion. "Can you boost our speed?"

"Yeah, hang on." Julian laid his fingers on the dashboard again and began to concentrate. A moment later, the jet was surrounded by a green glow, and they were hurtling toward the end of the tunnel, and out into the air.

"We're good!" He announced, grinning. "Peru, here we-"

"Peru, huh?" Logan's voice crackled in on their communications system. "Listen here, you little shits. I dunno who the hell you are, or just where the fuck you came from, but if you think you're gonna take our one billion dollar piece o' equipment about for a joyride, you're sorely mistaken. You have till the count of ten to start landin' or I'm gonna make you regret the day you were_ born._ Your funeral."

Laura's eyebrows drew together, and she checked the radar display. "Logan is following us in another aircraft."

"What other aircraft?" Julian asked.

"The X-men must have had another transport before the Blackbird." Laura hesitated. "He has six anti-aircraft missiles on board. Two are primed for launch."

"So I'll shield us, no big." He put his hand on the console again. A moment later, they were surrounded by a large green bubble. "We'll be-" he paused, and looked out his window, as something caught his eye. "Is that...Storm?"

Laura followed his gaze. "Yes."

_KRAKOOOOM!_

"ARRGH-" Julian winced and grabbed his head. "Jesus, I think she _electrocuted_ me!"

"This situation is quickly becoming untenable." Laura hesitated. "Should we-"

"No, we _need_ the jet!" He gritted his teeth. "Don't care if I have to fight all the X-men for it. Just keep flying, I'll deal with the-_FUCK!" _He threw his head back against the headrest. "...yeah...we're not...we should stop…" he reached out for the throttle.

Laura grabbed his wrist and hit the _return_ button, then did the same for herself.

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
13:21 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

Laura was falling, falling, toward the ocean far below. Her eyes widened. Was the time device waterproofed? She tried to curl into a ball around her wrist, even though she knew that would accomplish nothing, only-

_WUMPF! _As a green blur impacted with her.

"We're fine." Julian flew them toward the shore. "Man, that was a close call. I think...I think _Xavier _was fucking with my head. He was making me think I needed to land the jet."

"..." Laura's eyebrows drew together. She was pressed up against his front, and his arms were around her, one under her knee and the other supporting her back, and she could feel his heartbeat against her ear...and all of this made it quite difficult to concentrate enough to form a response.

A few moments later he had landed on the cliff overlooking the ocean, just above the tunnel. "You okay?" he asked seriously, frowning down at her.

"I…" her forehead wrinkled. She nodded instead.

He winced. "Sorry I messed it up again."

Laura's face felt warm. She closed her eyes. "We need to find another transport."

"Yeah." He paused. "Or maybe I should just fly us there? Like, at regular speed, so I don't pass out? It wouldn't be fast...I mean, probably a couple of days...but at least it should be straightforward, right?"

She closed her eyes. A couple of _days _of this_. _"Please put me down."

"Huh? Oh." Julian did as requested. "Sorry."

Laura said nothing.

A moment passed. She found herself comparing their vital signs. The rapid pace of hers, versus the slow, steady pace of his. It was as if her presence had the opposite effect on him than Sofia's presence. Her eyebrows drew together slightly at this thought.

He reached up and rubbed his neck. "So...think it'll work?"

She blinked, trying to remember what they had been discussing a moment ago. Oh, yes, his idea to carry them to Peru. "Yes." Pause. "But you will need to eat first."

He looked toward the school. "Back to town then?"

She nodded.

* * *

"I don't get why everything looks abandoned." Julian said this as he set them down again, near Salem village. "Yeah, mutants have been chased out...hunted by all the Predator X's and the Nimrods in this timeline...but where are all the humans, right? They're supposed to be safe?"

"I do not know." Laura surveyed the area around them. As he had said, the town looked abandoned: dark store fronts, no cars, and no people. No signs of life. She inhaled through her nose. No recent scents, either. She shrugged and began to head toward what was once the town corner store, a likely source of supplies.

Julian followed her closely. "Something's not right. I have a creepy feeling."

Laura paused, her hand on the handle. She listened to their environment. Silence, except for their heartbeats, and breathing...her eyes widened. There was another heartbeat nearby. A large one. She looked around.

_CRASH! _As the glass window beside them shattered, and a huge, silver-coated creature charged through as it pounced on Julian.

There was an explosion of blood. As if he was a liquid-filled balloon that had just exploded.

Laura barely had time to punch in the numbers to her watch before it turned to her. The jaws snapped around air, as she disappeared into the past.

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
13:25 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

"Stop!" Laura caught Julian's arm as he started forward, having just landed.

"Wha-" he gave her an odd look. "Thought we were going to…" he paused, seeing her expression. "Aw, god damnit. Did I _die _again?"

"There is a Predator X in the convenience store." Her eyebrows drew together. "I did not detect it by scent. I do not think it is worth the risk of encountering it again."

"Probably not." He rubbed his face with his hands, then ran his fingers through his hair. An expression of exasperation. "The hell're we going to do? It's like we're cursed. But...we can't just _leave _things like this."

"No." She looked at the convenience store again. "Stay here." She began to walk toward it, making a fist. _Snkkt!_

"No, Laura-what are you-" Julian took a step to follow her. That's when he heard it.

"MUTANTS DETECTED."

"Motherfucker." He turned around to gaze up at the towering robot. It looked like a Nimrod, only mega-sized. Like three of them together. His eyebrows drew together as his heart started to race. Every time he saw one, he remembered that moment that his hands had been destroyed. Turned to ash. He was frozen in place.

"STAND DOWN MUTANT." The Nimrod raised one of its blaster-hands.

"..." Laura watched in disbelief as he was bathed in a pink ray of light. When it ceased, a cloud of ash billowed around the place he had stood. As if he had never been.

She could hear the Predator X starting its charge over her shoulder. With a sigh, she turned over her wrist, punched in the numbers, and pressed _Send._

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
13:21 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

Laura was back in his arms, and he was approaching the cliff, where they would talk about what to do next, and she would agree with his suggestion. Which would lead to his death. Twice. She closed her eyes, shook her head. Not this time. She breathed in his scent, focused on his heartbeat, reassured herself that he was alive.

A moment later, he landed on the cliff. "You okay?" he asked seriously, frowning down at her.

"Yes." She paused. "Julian, we cannot go into town. You will also die there."

"..." he closed his eyes. "Did you...did you just jump again?"

"Yes." She frowned. "We need to find another transport. But we cannot risk returning to town."

"Grr! I'm getting so sick of this." Julian gritted his teeth. "Fine. Back to the school it is. We'll be safe _there, _right?"

"Yes." She paused. "I think."

He took to the air again, still holding her.

This time, she did not complain.

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
**__**19:02 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

"What aren't we thinking of?" Julian asked, waving his spoon in the air as he leaned back on the couch. "There's got to be _something _we're missing here."

They were in the school again, in the rec room, which they had managed to light with a small fire, built using old TV guides, a deep cooking pot, and a spark from Laura's claws drawn sideways across the stone mantle. After several hours of scavenging and exploring, they were now sitting on the couch. It was still mostly intact thanks to the plastic covering.

Laura was eating popcorn. They had found unpopped kernels, which Julian had prepared telekinetically. He was eating from a jar of peanut butter, which contained more protein and fat. They had also located some stale candy, which was piled on the table, for later.

She frowned. "Dr. McCoy's laboratory may have something."

"Like what?" Julian wrinkled his nose. "Jetpacks? Teleportation pad? He doesn't just leave that shit lying around."

"No." Laura paused. "But you are telekinetic...and I can cut through most locks."

"Yeah, good point." He ate another spoonful of peanut butter. "I vote we check that out in the morning...when it's light out again."

"The sub-basement will be just as dark."

"But somehow less creepy." He grinned. "Besides...I could do with some sleep. Food's good, but nothing recharges my batteries like nine or ten hours of Z's."

"You only require eight." Laura paused. "I require three for optimal performance."

"That explains a lot." He paused. "I'm usually fine on eight, but I've had a rough day and I can tell I'm going to need the rest." Pause. "Good thing the couch is big. I'd feel like an asshole making you sleep on the floor."

"I will sleep outside."

"What? No way." Julian sat up abruptly. The couch made a _brrrp _sound as the plastic shifted from his movement. "You're not sleeping out there and leaving me all alone in here."

"You will be fine."

"I think it'd be dumb for us to split up. Who knows what might come crawling on past during the night? And I'm not about to sleep on the ground when I can be comfortable."

"..." Laura paused, wrinkled her nose. "Fine."

"Good clone."

Her nose-wrinkling deepend. "Do not-"

"Yeah, yeah." Julian ate another spoon of peanut butter. "I'll stop calling you 'clone' when you stop _acting _like a clone, how about that?"

She gave him a flat look. "That is a nonsensical statement."

"Now you're getting it." He grinned at her again as he returned to his leaning position, the plastic furniture covering making another _brrrp_ sound. The expression faded. "I swear, that was the couch, I didn't-"

"I am aware." She held his gaze for a moment longer, then lowered her eyes to her popcorn again. For a moment, she found herself wishing she understood him better. Then, perhaps, he would react the same way to her than she did to him. The way he had reacted to Sofia. Would he _ever_ react that way for her? She hesitated. "Julian. I...want to talk now."

"We are talking." He waved his spoon at her again, smirking. "Or, I dunno what you call it in clone-speak. 'Verbal communications,' am I close?" Then his smirk faded. "Oh. _Talk._"

"..." Her eyebrows drew together. "Yes."

"Uh." His forehead wrinkled. "Thought we were doing that after we fixed everything. Like, I dunno, when we can relax...know all our work is done...chill out. You know?"

Laura gazed at him.

"I just...why now?" He set the peanut butter on the table. "We were kind of having fun."

She said nothing.

"Look." He reached up, ran a hand through his hair. "I think you're everything...the whole package...I just…" he closed his eyes. "I can't go there with you."

Laura continued to watch him.

"I don't see you that way." He paused. Sorry, clone."

"Why?" She heard her voice ask the question, even though she had not instructed it to do so.

"..." he shrugged. "I told you, I'm not over Sofia. I think she's the one." He paused. "And you...I'd die for you, Laura, but I guess I see you as a friend." He paused. "No. You're way more than a friend. Like...like a sister."

She stared at him for a moment.

"I hope you know, any guy is going to be lucky to-"

Laura stood up and headed for the front door, her shoulders very stiff. He was still talking, and following her, too, but she was no longer listening. She slipped into the night air and took a deep breath, reasoning that it should help combat her sudden sensation of breathlessness. It did, but only slightly. She was still trembling. Her fists fell to her sides. _Snkkt!_

"GRAAHH!" She shouted, charging at the old oak tree in the yard and sinking her claws deeply into the wood. Then she withdrew her claws with a _Snakkt _and continued to pummel its trunk, pieces of bark flying around her temporarily bleeding knuckles. Eventually, she felt calmer, calm enough to sink down with her back against the tree, head in her hands as she tried to reason her way through the anger she was feeling. The frustration. The _hurt. _


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Thanks for the reviews! Glad to see some are enjoying this. (and for those of you who are not sure, it's okay for you not to read it-no one is forcing you, haha). Questions re: time laws shall be answered in the story. Yes, as several readers have noted, Julian had a real knack for dumb decisions in this story. Hopefully he'll learn some valuable lessons from all of this!

PS to Thorber Stone: Yup a certain game certainly played an inspiring role in this story. It's a great series! :)

* * *

**Chapter 4**

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
**__**19:07 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

Julian looked down at the jar of peanut butter sitting on the table, his eyebrows pressed together and his forehead wrinkled as he tried to process what had just happened. One moment, they had been hanging out. Despite the shitty situation, he had kind of been having_ fun._ He'd felt better than he had in a long time. Like how he was hoping he would feel, when they fixed everything that had gone wrong, and everything that had happened to him and his friends would all just be a horrible, distant memory. Then Laura had said those fatal words. _I...want to talk now. _And now he was feeling as bad as before. Worse. He looked down at his prosthetic hands, and gritted his teeth, shaking his head slightly. Why did she have to push the issue? Why couldn't she just let it go? His lip curled slightly. Damn clone. What had she _expected _for him to say? He made a movement to rub his face with his hands.

That's when the light of the fire glinted off the time device, still strapped to his wrist.

He froze, his eyes fixing on it. Here it was. The answer. He could just go back and find a way to let her down more easily. Maybe he shouldn't mention Sofia this time, since _that_ had really seemed to anger her. He hesitated for a moment. Just for a moment. Then he keyed in what he thought might have been the time the conversation began, and-very carefully-pressed _Send. _

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
**__**19:01 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

He was sitting on the sofa still, but now Laura was beside him.

She was looking down. "Julian. I...want to talk now."

"Holy shit!" He sat up with a _Brrrp. _"Man, I _can't _believe I nailed the timing like this. Amazing. I'm so _good_ at this." He grinned.

A moment later, his grin faded, as he saw that Laura was staring at him, her eyes narrowed, and her eyebrow raised.

"You have gone back in time." She said this in an accusatory tone.

"..." Julian closed his eyes. "Aw shit. Uh...yeah...but...you didn't die or anything. I just-" he sighed. "Look, I said some really dumb shit about how I'm still in love with Sofia, and how I just can't feel that for you, and you got all pissed and-"

Her eyes widened. "..." Then she stood up and ran out of the room.

"God fucking damn it." Julian gritted his teeth, then looked at his time device again, and sighed. _Least I know the time now._

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
**__**19:01 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

He was sitting on the sofa still, but now Laura was beside him again.

She was looking down. "Julian. I...want to talk now."

He paused. "Yeah, uh, what's up?" He hoped he sounded casual.

She gazed at him.

He considered not falling for it this time, but he knew that probably wouldn't work. If there was anything he knew for sure about Laura, it was that she was persistent as hell. Maybe it had something to do with being Wolverine's clone. He sighed, his eyebrows drawing together. "Look. I…" _Don't mention Sofia. _Don't _mention Sofia. _"I just don't think it's a good idea."

She closed her eyes. "Because of me."

He paused. "No, no...I didn't say _that..._I just..._I'm _not in a good place for...something like that right now, you know?"

Her eyebrows drew together too. "Because of..._her._"

Julian paused. "No."

Laura's nose wrinkled. She stood up very suddenly and stomped out of the room. He heard the _snkkt _of her claws as she disappeared into the dark hallways.

"..." He was confused, until he suddenly remembered that she could smell lies. "God. Fucking. _Damn _it!" He gritted his teeth as he began to punch the time into his device again.

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
**__**19:01 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

He was sitting on the sofa still, but now Laura was beside him again.

She was looking down. "Julian. I...want to talk now."

Julian frowned to himself. He needed to try and keep them off the topic altogether. "Can it wait? I'm getting kind of sleepy here."

"I…" Laura looked down. Her eyebrows drew together, and her lip trembled.

_Just shoot me already. _Julian sank back into the couch with a _Brrp! _of plastic. "Okay, what?"

She paused. "You said we would talk."

"..." Julian rubbed his face with his prosthetic hands. "I know. I just...I don't think we should yet. Not till we're done with what we came to do."

"Eliminate the target."

"Yeah, exactly!" He waved his prosthetic hand in her direction. "I can't focus on this kind of stuff until we do."

Laura's eyes narrowed. "You are lying to appease me." Her lip was curling. She wasn't going to let this go.

"..." Julian stared at her. "I can't win this, can I?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Win what?"

"Nevermind." Julian shook his head as he punched in the numbers.

"What are you-"

* * *

_**04/03/2011  
**__**19:01 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

He was sitting on the sofa still, but now Laura was beside him again.

She was looking down. "Julian. I...want to talk now."

_This is hell, isn't it? _He tilted his head back. What was happening? Why couldn't he just get past this moment? Why-

There was a loud, earth-shattering sound coming from outside. A roar so loud that it made walls and floor of the old school rattle around them. Followed by heavy thumping sounds.

"The fuck?" Julian asked, scrambling to his feet.

Laura was looking around as well too. Her eyebrows drew together. Then she started toward the front door.

After a moment, he followed her, not quite sure if he wanted to find out, but also knowing he wouldn't sleep without knowing what the hell had made that sound. He joined her at the entrance.

They both gazed out at the large, brown-skinned, reptilian creature lazily striding across the road in front of the school. He didn't know much about biology, but based on the small front legs and huge teeth, he was able to identify it as a T-Rex.

"..." Julian's forehead wrinkled. "W-why are there _dinosaurs?_"

"I am not certain." She paused, and looked over her shoulder at him. "Perhaps we created some sort of...temporal anomaly."

He paused. He couldn't help feeling partly responsible. After all, there had been no dinosaurs until he basically rewound time four or five times. "Well, how do we fix it?"

"I do not think we can." Laura paused. "Not without going back to an earlier point in the timestream."

"Oh, cool, so when we smoke Scarlet Witch they should all go away, right?"

"Presumably."

"Great." Julian gazed at the dinosaur. "That's convenient. Hey, he looks nothing like in my textbooks. All the T-Rexes there were neon green, this guy is, like, poop brown."

"It is better for camouflage. I have coated myself in mud as a tactic before."

Julian stopped himself from picturing it. "Makes sense, I guess." He paused. "Let's go in before he gets hungry."

They headed back into the school's foyer, and he closed the door, his eyebrows drawn together. "We'll be safe in here tonight, right?"

"Probably." Laura paused. "Unless it follows our scent. Then it may attack."

"Oh." Julian shrugged. "Well...it's only a dinosaur. We've fought bigger things." Pause. "What do we do if it comes while we're sleeping?"

"I would likely be roused by the approaching vibrations first."

"Sounds good. Okay, well, I'm beat." He walked back to the rec room and sank back onto the couch. "Think I'm going to hit the sack."

Laura followed him. "We did not talk."

Julian twitched slightly."Tomorrow, okay? I'm too tired, and the dinosaur's got me wigged out. I can't think straight right now."

Pause. "Tomorrow." Her voice was firm.

He almost sighed out loud in relief. _Brrrp, _as he sprawled out on his end of the sofa. "Night, Laura."

She sat down on the other end. "Good night."

* * *

_**04/04/2011  
**__**07:53 EST  
Westchester, NY**_

Julian rubbed Sofia's shoulder with his thumb, dimly aware of the light filtering in through the windows. He was in a pleasant, half-dreaming, half-lucid state, just awake enough to be aware that he was warm, and comfortable, and that she was in his arms, pressed up against him, her face resting on his shoulder. Her fingers were twitching slightly on his stomach as she dreamed. Then she murmured something. His eyebrows drew together. That wasn't Sofia's voice-it was slightly deeper. And, come to think of it, the shape pressed up against him felt wrong. A certain something-a certain _pair _of somethings-felt much bigger. His forehead wrinkled, and he opened his eyes a peep and glanced down. Yup, it was the clone. At some point during the night she must have crawled up on him. He hesitated. He _really _didn't want to entertain thoughts like this about her, especially after he had worked so hard to keep that talk from happening last night. _But,_ _boobs_. After a moment, he decided that this was a totally separate matter, so he let his eyes sink down to her curves. Her top left very little to his imagination, something he had to admit was a turn on. She was obviously very confident about her body and not afraid to flaunt it. The exact opposite of Sofia. Who he was in love with, so he needed to stop looking. But this wasn't even related. Right? Maybe it was a bit related. J_ust ten more seconds_. Ten seconds passed, and then ten more, and he felt sweat start to bead on his forehead as he tried to tear his gaze away. _Rip! _As he instead tore a little bit of her top instead, with his mind. His eyes widened. "No, no…" he tried to scrape his brain cells together enough to fix the tear.

Laura's eyes snapped open, and she looked up, her eyebrows drawing together. "Julian?" She sounded confused.

"Get off me, clone!" He demanded, pushing her off him as he sat up. If she realized what had just happened, all his efforts last night to stop that talk from happening were going to be for nothing. "Why'd you crawl up on me, huh? Thought you could take advantage while I was_ sleeping?_" His tone was more accusatory than he'd intended, but he figured taking the offensive would throw her off enough that she wouldn't notice him trying to gradually shift one of the pillows across his lap.

Laura raised an eyebrow. "This is the end of the couch that I initially fell asleep on."

Julian paused, looking at the position of the cooking pot and the peanut butter on the table. She was right. Which meant that _he_ was the one who had crawled up on _her_. He felt his face starting to get hot, so he looked away. "Whatever." He mumbled this. "Just-_whatever._"

She said nothing. Which was somehow worse than if she had spoken. Even worse than if she had made fun of him.

He glared at her, his lip curling. "Don't you have some important clone business to take care of somewhere, or something?!" The moment he said it, he knew it was weak, but at this point he didn't care.

She didn't call him out on it. "I will locate Dr. McCoy's laboratory." She got to her feet and headed down the hallway without another word.

He gazed after her, his forehead wrinkled. Then he looked at the pillow that was partially on his lap, his eyebrows drawn together as he tried to understand what had just happened. _What the fuck am I doing? _He closed his eyes, shook his head slightly. He was obviously attracted to her. That was something he had never denied, but maybe he hadn't admitted to the full extent before. Laura was...he hesitated. What was she to him? Everything. She was _everything. _He couldn't even imagine what he'd do without her. If she had died...or abandoned him, like everyone else...his forehead wrinkled again, and he bit his lip. To be honest, he'd probably still be sitting in his room in Utopia, further along into his total meltdown. But she was his _friend. _His best friend. His only friend. He couldn't risk losing her, ever.

But aside from all that...she wasn't Sofia. She wasn't what his heart wanted, not in that way. He _knew_ that, for sure. The way he'd felt when he saw Sofia walking away toward the limo...away from him...he gritted his teeth. He couldn't have handled that, if he hadn't known it was temporary. That it would change when they fixed all this. Losing Sofia was part of _why_ they were doing all this. Well, maybe it wasn't Laura's reason, but it was his.

He closed his eyes. He needed to do a better job of controlling himself. If he was going to keep Laura as a friend, and if part of his mission was really to get Sofia back, then he _needed _to avoid situations like this morning entirely. Resolved, he picked up the jar of peanut butter and started eating, focusing on the taste and thinking of their task ahead to help himself calm down.

* * *

"Laura?" Julian called, following the dim glow of her flashlight, deep within the school's sub-basement. "Find anything?"

"Yes, I believe so." Her voice echoed in the hallway. "There is a pad here which I suspect is for teleportation."

"Perfect." He reached the door and held his glowing green prosthetic hand up, studying the lab. The interior was mostly white, with the occasional gleam of metal instruments. But he couldn't see her anywhere inside. "Where?"

"I am in the secondary room."

It seemed like her voice was coming from the wall, which was covered in cabinets. He frowned and stepped toward it, running his prosthetic hand over the surface. He couldn't feel anything, and his fingers were making contact.

"The wall is a hologram." Laura's voice was clear. "The entrance is slightly to the left of where you are standing."

"Oh." He moved his arm to the left, and watched as his fingers sank through the cabinets, then took a deeper breath and stepped through the area. His eyes widened as he saw the room filled with gadgets, stacked on various shelves. "_Cool_." No wonder Dr. McCoy was able to keep most students away from the good stuff. It wouldn't even have occurred to him that the wall wasn't real. Way more effective than any lock ever could have been.

Laura was standing in front of a round disc on the floor, studying the control panel on one of the arches that surrounded it.

He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, hi."

She didn't look at him. "Hello."

"Sorry." His eyebrows drew together. "About-about earlier. I just...I was sleepy and confused and...it wasn't your fault, okay?"

She still didn't look at him. "Okay."

He paused. "Are we good?"

"Good?"

He hesitated. "I mean...you're not mad with me?"

"No." She arched her eyebrows. "You are the one who was angry."

"Yeah." He exhaled. "Okay."

"Okay."

Silence, for a few moments.

"So...how'd you figure that out?"

"Figure what out?"

Julian gestured with his hand at the wall. "The whole hologram thing."

"I smelled the difference in material."

"Oh." He paused. "Wait, how is that thing still running?"

"I do not know." Laura paused. "Perhaps Dr. McCoy had an alternate power source for his laboratory. Or the hologram may not use electricity. I did not detect a sound."

"Huh." His nose wrinkled. "Like, what? Mirrors?"

"Perhaps." She glanced at him. "I am not an expert on holographic technology."

"Oh." He folded his arms.

"I believe we enter the coordinates here." She paused. "Hopefully it will transport us without issue."

"What kind of 'issues' could we have?" He frowned. "It's just a teleporter."

Laura shrugged. "We are from a different timeline. The transfer may not work correctly, and we could be misplaced in space and time."

"..." Julian stared at her. "Well, fuck. How likely do you think that is?"

"I do not know." She glanced at him. "But I doubt there is a better option."

"Yeah." He sighed."No time like the present. You got those coordinates memorized, clone?"

"Yes. But the computer requires power."

"Oh god damn it." He paused and moved over to the console. "I'll try juicing it up. I mean, it's just energy. I'll do the same thing I did with Cerebra."

Laura took a step back. "Be careful."

"Please. I'm _always_ careful. Thought you knew me by now." He grinned at her.

"No, you are often reckless and-"

"I was being ironic."

"Oh." Laura paused. "Yes." The corners of her lips turned up.

He raised an eyebrow. "Another clone smile. You feeling okay? Didn't think you _could_ smile before this...whatever it is we're doing."

"Yes." She also raised an eyebrow. "I am capable of smiling."

"Why don't you do it more, then?"

"There is little to smile about."

"Oh." He paused. "Guess that's fair." He reached out and laid his fingers on the console. "Well, let's try to fix that, shall we?"

A few moments later, the panel lit up.

"Fuck yeah! Something goes _right _for once." He grinned at her again. "Get over here and punch in those numbers, clone."

Laura frowned. She was reading a screen that had turned on. "Look at this."

He moved over and looked over her shoulder.

_LEGACY - STRAIN MKII_

_FIRST MUTANT DETECTION: Genosha, 15:35 GST, 01/02/2010_

_ FIRST HUMAN DETECTION: Boston, MA, USA, 14:55 EST, 02/12/2010_

The document went on to describe how the viral strain mutated freely, jumping between organisms and burning through the hosts without regard for physiology. It casually described death tolls in the billions.

"..." Julian's forehead wrinkled. So they hadn't just made things worse in this timeline. They had brought on the _apocalypse. _"Yeah, let's get out of here."

Laura nodded, her expression very tense.

* * *

_**04/04/2011  
**__**06:53 PET  
Lima, Peru**_

_**PAFT!**_

Julian looked around, his forehead wrinkling as he took in their surroundings. They were now standing outside, in the early morning sunshine, beside the ocean. In front of them was a large building, a resort. In the distance, a pterodactyl was gliding on the breeze, but he ignored it. "I think it worked."

"Yes." Laura glanced at him. "The resort is abandoned. I do not detect human or mutant activity nearby."

Julian remembered what they had just read, and shook his head slightly. "All this should be undone when we wipe out Scarlet Witch, right? Same as the dinosaurs?" His voice was low. He didn't even want to think about this timeline being permanent. About the idea that the entire _world_ was dead. If they couldn't fix what they had done..._stop. _He closed his eyes.

"Hypothetically."

"Let's go then." He reached out and offered her his hand, then floated them up to the abandoned resort's windows, and set them down on one of the balconies. "This the right one?"

"Up one level, and two to the right."

He looked at her. "How the hell do you know that?"

"Cerebra provided Z-axis coordinates as well." She saw his blank look. "Elevation."

"Damn, you should really be an X-man by now, Laura."

She said nothing.

He could sense her disapproval. Right. Their conversation, about how neither of them could be X-men. He hated to admit it, but she was kind of right. He doubted any of the X-men had screwed up so bad as to cause a world where _everyone _was dead, except for freaking dinosaurs. He set them down on another balcony. "This one, right?"

Laura glanced at her time device. "Yes, this is the place."

"But not the time."

"First...we need to decide exactly _how_ we're going to pull this off." He frowned. "Scarlet Witch is pretty, uh, powerful."

"Yes." She paused. "I could puncture her medulla oblongata and cerebellum in one motion, if I am in the correct position, and if she is not expecting the attack."

"Or I could give her an aneurysm." He frowned. "Maybe we should _both_ do it, just to be sure?"

"Yes." Laura frowned. "And we should first ascertain where she is standing."

"A dry run. I like it, clone." Julian turned over his wrist. "Okay, what number are we punching in?"

"I will go first, to scout." She was already entering the numbers, and hit _Send_. She seemed to flicker for a moment, as if she were a light about to go out. "She is sitting on the chair in the corner. I will enter the room. You cause the aneurysm from outside."

Julian shook his head, trying to move on from the odd experience of watching her travel. "Got it." He looked at his device. "Numbers, please."

"13:21, 01/23/2005." She paused. "Do you want me to-"

"Nope, I got it clone." He grinned at her. "Give me the thumbs-up when you're ready."

Laura nodded and opened the sliding glass door. The room was in disarray, the lamps knocked over, the bed messy and stained, and the chair tipped forward, but none of this seemed to put her off. She found the correct corner quickly and flashed him the signal.

"Good luck!" he mouthed, as he began to punch in the numbers.

* * *

_**01/23/2005  
**__**12:21 PET  
Lima, Peru**_

Julian gritted his teeth, refusing to let the vertigo knock him to his knees this time. He had a job to do. His vision cleared, and he could see that the room was no longer abandoned. The lamps were now standing upright, and the bed was made, the sheets spotless and crisp. The chair in front of the corner where Laura crouched was now occupied.

There she sat, her chin held high. She was a beautiful woman. Her hair dark, curly hair flowed around her shoulders, swept back from her temples by a red headpiece. He could only see her profile but could tell that her features were immaculate, the nose perfectly shaped above her full lips, her eyelashes thick and curling at the ends.

She seemed regal, sitting on that goddamn chair like a queen, in a luxury hotel. Dressed in dark red velvet. The color of all the blood that had been spilled because of her.

Scarlet Witch. The woman who had started it all. The woman who had caused the destruction of his entire life. Like it all meant nothing. Because it _did_ mean nothing to her. His eyes narrowed. Well, she meant nothing to _him. _This would be easier than when he had offed Omega Sentinel. Gritting his teeth, he reached out, and created a pocket of air in her brain, at the same moment as Laura's claw completed its fatal motion.

"HYURRK-" followed by a _thud! _as she crumbled to the floor.

"What-" muffled voices at the door.

"Press Return!" Laura hissed at him.

She didn't have to tell him twice. There was a flash of light and then...

* * *

_**04/04/2011  
**__**07:53 EST  
**__**Manhattan, NY**_

"-_love_ you." Julian was murmuring this. It was a little hard to speak, since there was something against his mouth. Another mouth?

His eyebrows drew together, as his vision began to clear. He wasn't sure of what was happening, or where he was, except that there was something really smooth touching him all over, and someone was under him. Warm. Soft/ He blinked, and saw it was Laura.

She was staring up at him, her green eyes very wide, and her forehead wrinkled. Her dark hair was fanned out over a pillow with what he recognized to be a silk cover. Oh, that's what the smooth stuff was.

He hadn't felt silk sheets since...he paused, as he realized they were doing...something. Together. He was kind of amazed it wasn't the first thing he had noticed. "..."

Laura raised an eyebrow at him. "You are-"

"Yeah I know. Hang on." He paused. "Holy shit! I have hands again!" He gawked at the appendage, watching in amazement as they responded to his commands to flex.

"_Julian._" Her tone was serious.

"Oops. Yeah." After a moment he rolled to her side, raising his hand to block out the sun shining through the window. A glint caught his eye. On his left hand. "I've got a ring."

"Is that important?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"You know. It means I'm, uh, married." He sat up too, and looked around, his forehead wrinkling. "Wait. Why did we just shift in place? We're not in the hotel anymore."

"No." Her eyebrows drew together. "I do not know." Pause. "The air is different. We are now on the East Coast again."

"This is…" He frowned. "Why did we just pop into this situation? It didn't happen the last time we changed the timeline."

Laura thought for a moment. "Perhaps because we were dead there."

"Oh." He paused. "Yeah, okay. But what about when we first went back? You know, when we went to stop the whole bus thing? Why didn't we replace ourselves _then?_"

She paused too, thinking. "We were younger."

"So?"

"Perhaps we only replace ourselves when our cellular makeup is similar enough." She raised her hand to wave her finger at him. "Every cell in the body is replaced within a seven to ten year timeframe. Our DNA would be the same, but the methylation process may cause minor differences-"

Julian's forehead wrinkled. "Methylation?"

"Methyl groups are added to DNA molecules, which alters the activity of-"

"Nevermind." He paused, then grabbed her hand. "Hey-you have a ring too!"

"..." Laura glanced at her finger. "Does this mean-"

"Yeah." Julian hesitated. "Maybe...maybe we're supposed to be doing this, you know? Maybe this is just how things worked out. We ended up with each other here, for some reason." His eyes lowered to the outline of her body, which he could see through the thin bed sheet she was covered in."Hell of a lot better than dinosaurs and the apocalypse, if you ask me."

Laura looked skeptical. "What about Sofia?"

He paused. Yes, what _about_ Sofia? His brain was quickly becoming clouded. Why was he doing this with Laura? Sofia must not be in the picture. Something had happened to her. He frowned, and raised his eyes, back up to hers. "She must-she must not be in this timeline." He hesitated. "Maybe...maybe she died or something."

"Perhaps." Laura didn't sound convinced.

He reached over and took her hand, the one with the ring. "I guess we...we should have that talk now, huh?" He hesitated. "I mean, if we're _married_-"

"Shh." Laura tilted her head, listening to something.

A moment later, there was the sound of a door opening and closing.

"..." Julian's eyebrows drew together. He pulled her out of the bed and into the nearby closet, his heart pounding. Why were they in someone else's apartment?

They both stood in silence, in the dark closet.

For a while, nothing happened. He became aware of the fact that, in his peripheral vision, he could see Laura's body, in profile. She was naked. _Completely_ naked. He swallowed, his eyebrows drawing together as he processed this thought.

"Julian?"

He shook his head slightly. "What?"

"Shhh." She paused. "You were...watching me."

He realized that he had been staring at her for a while now. "S-sorry." He whispered this.

Laura hesitated, then held out something to him.

His forehead wrinkled. "For…?"

"I am not certain." She paused. "You used the couch pillow last time."

"..." Julian's eyes widened as he remembered that _he _was also completely naked. He grabbed the something from her and covered himself up, his face burning. The something turned out to be a fancy bowler hat. He studied it very intently, so he wouldn't have to meet her gaze again. "Th-thanks."

"Laura? Honey, you around?" A man's voice called from the hallway outside the bedroom.

"..." Laura's eyebrows drew together.

"Shit." Julian mouthed this. Had she been _cheating _on someone, with him? What was going on?

She reached up and pulled a robe off of a hanger, and began to shrug it on.

"What're you doing?" he whispered.

"I will distract him. You exit through the window. We will meet outside the building later."

"Okay." He paused. "Wait, where are my clothes?"

"I will find them." She tied the belt around her waist, then stepped out of the closet quietly. A moment later she handed him a pile of garments. "Hurry."

He nodded, and began to pull his things on. They were nice things: silk boxers, pants that were obviously custom fitted, and a polo shirt with a label that was worth about ten of the shirts he was wearing these days.

"There you are!" The man's voice, at the door. "Why didn't you answer me?"

"I was sleeping." Laura paused. "How did you get in?"

"With my key, silly." Pause. "Sorry I couldn't make it home last night, but we finally got our work on the case done! We should celebrate today."

Julian cringed. Yup, she had been cheating on him. Poor guy. He felt guilty, even though she was the one in the wrong. Then he remembered the ring on his own finger, and his forehead wrinkled. Who was _he_ married to, then?

His pocket vibrated. He clapped his fingers over it, eyes widening.

"You hear that?" the man asked.

"No." Laura paused. "I am hungry. Come and eat with me."

"Well, good! I brought breakfast…"

Their voices faded slightly. Julian slipped out of the closet and to the window, then unlocked it and carefully displaced the screen with his mind so he could crawl out. After replacing it, he flew up to the roof and collapsed against the wall of the roof access door, holding a hand over his chest. _What the actual fuck. _He was still trying to scrape his brain cells together when his pocket vibrated again. This time, a series of vibrations. An incoming call. He pulled out his phone and looked at the incoming call screen.

_Sofia Keller. _Under that, the message _10 missed calls._

"..." Julian tilted his head back against the wall.


	5. Chapter 5

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Thanks for the reviews! I believe some of the questions will be answered in this chapter :) hope y'all enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Julian finally scraped enough of his brain cells together to hit the button to return the call. He waited, his heart in his throat. He was very, very confused.

"Julian?" Any hopes that he had married another woman named Sofia died as he recognized her unique, heavily accented voice. She always had trouble with the _J _in his name.

"Uh." He stared at a seagull in the distance. "Hi."

"Where are you?! What is going on?! I have been worried sick-"

"Stop." He said this more harshly than intended, because each thing she said was making him feel like shit. "I...got held up. But I'm fine. Everything's fine." Well, _now_ it would be.. Whatever this _thing _with Laura had been, it was clearly the biggest fuck-up he had ever made, and he'd just have to make sure it never happened again. Which wouldn't be too hard. Not with Sofia in the picture. He could always fix things, right?

"Everything is _not_ fine! Our daughter speaks her first words, and where are you, huh? _Huh?" _Sofia mumbled something under her breath in Venezuelan.

"..." Julian slid down the wall. He felt like crying. He had been wrong. The time loop with Laura that resulted in dinosaurs was nothing. _This _was hell. He was burning inside. How could he be doing something this stupid, if he had managed to marry the woman he loved...and had even had a _kid _with her? "I d-don't know where I am." He almost whispered this. "Please...I'll come home and everything-"

"If you say 'everything will be fine' I swear, Julian, I will start a _tornado_ in your colon."

He paused. "You got your powers back?! Sof, that's-"

"..." Sofia inhaled sharply. "DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? I WILL-"

He held the phone away from his ear as she shouted something at him, wincing. But he could hardly blame her, if he'd just disappeared without a trace. After a moment he held the phone to his ear again. "Sof, please, listen to me. I _love _you, okay? I'm coming _right home. _Swear. Just wait for me."

Sofia mumbled under her breath again. "You have twenty minutes to return home, or I am calling your mother. Understood?"

Julian blinked. Now his mom was involved? But he hadn't spoken to her in-

"_Understood?_"

"Yeah, absolutely." His forehead wrinkled as he realized he didn't know where home was. But he knew one thing for certain: there was no way in hell he dared to ask Sofia. Not over the phone, anyway. "I'll be right there. Promise."

"You had better be."

The line went silent. She had hung up on him. He looked at his phone to make sure, then exhaled and began to search it for a clue about where his house was. Luckily the cellphone unlocked with a thumbprint, and also luckily, he had thumbs again. He noticed his photo gallery and couldn't resist opening it, to see pictures of the family he'd just acquired. The first picture was of a little girl, with a chubby face and big brown eyes, smiling in a crib. He stared at her in fascination. Was she really related to him? Could he see himself in her face? He wasn't sure. Worse, he realized that he didn't know her name. If he thought Sofia was angry now….

He might have to tell her what had happened. There might be no other way. He winced, then opened his contacts and began scrolling. Nope. Nothing there. Then he had a stroke of brilliance. His phone's emergency info. He pulled it up and felt a huge rush of relief. Not only did it list his address, but it also listed his next-of-kin: Sofia, and Grace. That must be their daughter's name. After a moment, he punched the location into his map program, and took to the air.

* * *

Julian landed on the lawn that was apparently his. The grass was freshly mowed, and there were carefully decorated flowerbeds. The house was modern, with a sleek and edgy design, and in the driveway sat a black Porsche that he was quite sure belonged to him. All in all, it looked like the other him really had his life together. He shook his head. No, not the other him. There was no 'other' him. This was _his _life, and it looked amazing. It looked...almost good enough to make up for the hell he'd been through. He stared up at the house, a little uncertain. Should he just walk in like he owned the place, then? Yes. He straightened his clothes self-consciously, then headed up the walkway to the door.

It opened as he was reaching for the knob, and he was met face-to-face with a pair of angry brown eyes.

Sofia folded her arms. "Welcome home." Her voice was stiff. She had a pixie cut.

"..." Julian stared at her. "You-your hair! What-where is it?!"

She blinked, then made an annoyed _tsscht _sound. "I cut it last year. Do you honestly pay that little attention?"

"I-" He closed his eyes. How the hell could he explain all this? "Sof, I'm _sorry_. Really." He stepped forward and threw his arms around her, in a tight hug.

Sofia froze, not returning the embrace, obviously not used to his showing her affection. She eyed him warily as he pulled away. "What has gotten into you?"

"I dunno." He paused, his forehead wrinkling as the room swam slightly. Well, no wonder. realized that in the past two days, all he'd really eaten was half a squirrel and some old peanut butter. And that was after burning a bunch of calories saving them from a Nimrod. Which was after the time travel induced puking. Following his getting pretty lit up on chugging whiskey on an empty stomach. "Look...I'm hungry as shit. I could eat a fucking fridge. We have food, right?"

Sofia's eyebrows drew together. "Julian...are you alright? You do not sound like yourself."

He paused. "How so?"

"Such...vulgar language." Sofia wrinkled her nose. "Is that how you speak at work?"

Julian paused. "Yup." He shrugged. "Sorry." He wondered where he worked.

"Please, do not bring it home with you." As she spoke, Sofia led the way toward what he hoped was the kitchen. Was she going to make him food? He was mind blown at the thought of Sofia cooking for him.

But the kitchen was already occupied when they got there. A strange woman was drying a bit with a towel, her expression sullen.

"Maria, could you make him breakfast?"

"Of course." Maria glared at him. "Eggs? Toast?" Her voice had a heavy accent.

He nodded, his forehead wrinkling. "P-please."

"Five minutes."

Julian wondered if Maria had ever considered murdering him in his sleep. He vowed to lock the door at night, although he half-doubted that would stop her.

Sofia folded her arms. "Follow."

He did as commanded, following her out of the kitchen, several other rooms, and through an impressive set of doors to a large patio. She sat down in a chair, so he did the same.

"Now." She gave him a direct look. "I want to hear why you were away the entire night." Her eyes narrowed. "_Who was she?_"

"Er-what?" Julian frowned. "I would never-"

The wind picked up, a sudden _woosh _that made him squint and break into chills. He'd forgotten how her anger felt. Cold and stormy.

"Do not lie to me." Sofia's voice was as cold too. "It is disrespectful."

"I _love_ you." He reached over the table for her hand.

She moved her fingers away. "Stop. You are insulting me. I have _seen _you with her."

"..." Julian's forehead wrinkled, and he slumped in his chair. How was everything so perfect in this timeline, yet so fucked up? "I-I don't know what to tell you. When was this?" On the off chance that he could explain it away.

"You. And a dark haired woman." Sofia's lip curled.

She'd seen them together, then. What should he say? "She's from work." Shit, he'd forgot to find out if he had a job. Was he still in school here? No, probably not. Oh wait, Sofia had mentioned his work. _Whew._

Sofia paused. "_That _is Laura? _Her?_"

He almost froze. Was it good or bad that she knew her name? "Um, yeah."

She raised an eyebrow. "She looks far too delicate to be an agent."

Pause. Julian realized that, somehow, he had managed to hit the one believable excuse. Clearly, he had mentioned Laura before. Agent? Of what? Was _he_ an agent too? He needed to answer her. She was watching him expectantly. "She has a healing factor. And metal claws. And, uh, crazy fighting skills." Pause. "She could totally hand my ass to me in a fair fight." His lips turned up at the corners as he admitted this. He figured he'd last about half a second against her, without his powers.

"I suppose…" Sofia considered this. "I _did_ think she was a little plain for your tastes."

Julian managed to bite his tongue before the words escaped him: _I think she's hot as fuck. _He swallowed. Here was literally the perfect reason to explain it all away, practically hand-fed to him by Sofia, and he had almost just fucked it up for himself...beyond all recognition. He didn't even want to _think_ about what would've happened if he had said those words out loud. She was waiting for him to say something, though, so he smirked. "Yeah, you're right. I'm more of a fan of brunettes." _There we go. _

Sofia eyed him for a moment. "I wish you would change careers. Manage the company. Your brother would step down at any time, you know."

Julian's forehead wrinkled. He had a place in the company? His parents' company? Not only that, he had the option to _run _it? What happened to James being the prodigal son? "I-"

She sighed. "I know. You enjoy being an agent too much. But...I worry. It is dangerous work. What if you are hurt?"

His eyebrows drew together. "I can take care of myself. You know I can." Only a half lie. He'd managed to survive plenty already, right? _You had help, _some unhelpful part of his mind whispered. It sounded strangely like Laura. He ignored it.

The porch doors opened. Maria, carrying a tray of eggs and toast. She plunked it down on the table in front of him with a threatening look, then turned and left abruptly. He idly wondered what kind of poison she had laced his food with.

"So, where _were_ you last night?" Sofia asked suddenly. "Was it-was it work?"

Julian froze, then nodded. Perfect. Maybe things would be okay. She probably expected details though. He sighed. "I...I can't really talk about it. We're working on a big thing and…" he gave her what he hoped was a concerned look. "You'd just worry. Trust me-I'll tell you all about it when it's over."

She looked uncertain. "Do you _have _to be involved, Julian?"

He nodded.

"What about our daughter? What if she has to grow up without a father?"

"She won't." Julian paused, tried to keep his expression neutral, and not let on just how excited he was to meet this kid of his. "Where is she, anyway?"

"Her Power Primer, of course."

He raised an eyebrow. "She's got powers already?"

She gave him an annoyed look. "Not yet, but as you said, it is never too early to learn how to manage them. With two mutant parents, she will most definitely be gifted." There was a bit of a hard edge to her voice. "Do you _seriously_ not remember this? We spoke about this for an entire evening, a few months back."

"No, I do, I'm just…" Julian rubbed his neck. "Late night."

"And you said you were hungry." She gestured to the plate. "If you insist on working...then you had better eat, shower, and get back. You will be needed."

Julian reached for a piece of toast. "Sounds like a plan."

Nothing had ever tasted better.

* * *

Julian leaned his head against the shower, closing his eyes and enjoying the steam opening his pores. He hadn't had a shower in three _days. _Well, at least he thought it had been three days. He wasn't quite sure anymore. He'd travelled back and forth so many times now that he'd lost track. All he knew for sure was that the shower felt damn good. He thought of all the things he'd seen, and shook his head. Nothing he'd seen during his time with the X-men even came remotely close to this craziness. How did Laura stay so calm? Shit, how did she do this for missions? He'd go batshit insane if he had to do this on a regular basis. He was supposed to meet her outside her apartment building. His eyes snapped open as he remembered this. "_Fuck." _

He rushed through the rest of his cleaning, grabbed a towel, and after a few rough scrubs, headed into the bedroom. He expected to have to bumble around in his closet and pick an outfit, but someone had already done that for him. A pair of silk boxers, and a dark red uniform with lots of black padding around the shoulders, elbows, and knees, was laid out on the bed, and a pair of black boots waited on the floor. He raised an eyebrow. Not bad. At least his tastes weren't all messed up in this timeline or something. Then he remembered how he had _entered_ this timeline: naked, on top of Laura. When he was _married _to Sofia. His face reddened. Worse-there was that thing he had been saying, just before his vision cleared. _-love you. _To _Laura. _"No fuckin' way." He said this out loud, his lip curling. There was no way he was that stupid. He must've been saying something else. He wouldn't risk the awesome life he had.

Right?

_Laura's waiting. _He finished drying off and pulled the garments on, then headed back down the hallway. "Sof?"

She wasn't anywhere to be found.

He entered the kitchen last and found Maria preparing some pastries.

She scowled at him. "May I help you?"

"Where's Sofia?"

"Shopping." Maria paused. "Should I call her?"

"No, just-" Julian shrugged. "What time does Grace get out of the power thing?"

"I will pick her up at three o' clock, sir." Maria gave him a cold glance. "As usual."

"Cool." He hesitated. "Well, bye then."

She ignored him.

Julian backed out of the kitchen, then headed to the front door and out onto the lawn. He glanced at the porsche, but he didn't know his way around the streets yet, so he decided to fly. He reversed his previous map directions-_thank god for GPS_-and headed out toward Laura's apartment, his expression serious.

When he finally landed in the courtyard, she was nowhere to be seen. He looked around, frowning. Somehow, he hadn't thought it was possible that Laura would ever not wait for him somewhere. The door to the building lobby opened, and she walked out, dressed in a uniform similar to his. She was followed by a man.

The first thing Julian noticed was his gigantic pair of folded wings. The second was his rumpled, golden blond hair, and perfect features. He knew him. This was-

"Warren. You do not need to follow me." Laura sounded mildly irritated.

"Don't you want a ride to work?" Angel unfolded his wings and flapped them. "I _always _give you a ride."

"No, thank you." Laura paused. "My colleague is here. He will take me today."

"Oh." Warren wrinkled his nose. "Case stuff, huh?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Warren asked.

Julian waved at him awkwardly. He still felt the urge to address Angel as "professor," since he'd taken one of his flight classes, after Northstar had died. Somehow he restrained himself.

"This is Julian." Laura gestured to him. "Julian, this is my husband Warren."

He felt like snickering, but also restrained himself from that.

"So you're the one who keeps my wife out late, huh?" Angel asked.

Julian stared at him. "Uh..."

"Relax, I'm just messing around."

"I must go." Laura began to walk toward Julian, but Angel's wings wrapped around her and pulled her back, into an embrace. No, not just an embrace-he was kissing her. Pretty hard.

Laura seemed to stiffen, but then she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Julian blinked. He wasn't sure what surprised him more-the spontaneous display of affection, Laura's reaction, or his own, which was an immediate desire to punch Angel directly in the face. Where had _that_ come from? He'd always liked him as a professor, so he couldn't even use some kind of buried hatred as an excuse. It was definitely related to the fact that Laura seemed to enjoy the interaction.

Warren finally pulled away. "Alright. Be home early tonight. I'm cooking."

"Okay." Laura turned away, and now was heading toward him again. Her eyes were half lidded, and she was touching her lips. Clearly, she had enjoyed that.

"..." Julian shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, so they wouldn't see that his fingers were forming fists. "Ready?"

Laura nodded.

He lifted them into the air, and away, as fast as he could get them flying. For a while they flew in silence, then he set them down on the roof of a skyscraper. "So."

She said nothing.

He folded his arms. "You're not even going to explain? Huh, clone?"

"..." She raised an eyebrow. "Explain what?"

"Why you sucked face with Prof-with Angel." He gritted his teeth, annoyed with himself. Why couldn't he stop calling him 'professor'?  
"To maintain cover." Laura paused. "It was also pleasant."

"I _knew_ you were into him!" he fumed, his eyes narrowing. "You two do anything _else_?"

She raised both her eyebrows now. "How is this information relevant to you?"

He tried to think of a reason. And failed. "It just is."

Laura said nothing.

"Fine." He unfolded his arms. "Well, _I _found out that I'm married to _Sofia_. And we have a kid together. So hah, clone. I win."

"Win what?"

Pause. He shrugged. He'd expected some kind of reaction, but Laura hadn't even flinched at the idea that he had a family here. Then again, he wasn't sure what he had expected in terms of a reaction. Or why he wanted one. They were friends, nothing more. Shouldn't he just be happy that she now had a chance to be happy, too? He felt the beginnings of a headache coming on, and scowled.

"We should trade intelligence." Laura's tone was steady, her expression as blank and undisturbed as ever. "You and I are both working as agents of an organization known in this timeline as the Red Guard. I suspect-"

"Whoa, hold on. Let's grab lunch or something, I'm starving again."

"I ate recently."

"Well, you're not the one flying your ass around, now, are you?"

"Warren could have-"

"Don't fucking say his name."

"..." Laura gave him an odd look. "Why?"

"Just don't." Julian leaned down and offered her a hand up. "We're going to go somewhere I can get food, and you can sit and talk at me as much as you want, okay?"

She took his hand. "Okay."

* * *

A few minutes later found them sitting in a diner booth, both waiting for the food they had ordered.

"..." Laura's forehead wrinkled suddenly. "Do you have currency?"

"Think so." He patted his sides, then his forehead wrinkled. "Er, maybe not?"

She pointed at his chest. "You have a pocket on the left side."

"Oh. Cool." He unzipped it and found a wallet. "Yeah, looks like I'm fucking loaded...lunch is on me this time."

"'This time'?"

"You know, since you caught the squirrel. In the other timeline."

"Oh." Laura frowned. "Yes."

"Why the long face?"

"'Long face'?"

"You're frowning."

She thought for a moment. "That day...feels like a very long time ago. But it was not. Usually my sense of time is impeccable-"

"I know what you mean." He paused. "It was just us then. Now we have all these other people to think about."

"Yes." Laura paused. "But...this is what you wanted. You are happy now. We do not need to alter time again, correct?"

"Well, no one's dead and I haven't seen a dinosaur yet, so I'd say we're good." Julian grinned at her. "And we even work together. That's pretty convenient."

"Yes." She looked at her menu. "Warren does not like it."

His grin faded. There was that name again. "Well, screw him. He can't tell you what to do."

"You tell me what to do all the time."

"..." Julian rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but we're _friends_. I'm mostly just giving you a hard time. I'm not trying to control you."

"Neither is Warren."

"God, can you shut up with that name?" He paused, his nose wrinkling. "I...sorry, dunno where that came from."

Laura raised an eyebrow. "You dislike him. Why?"

"..." He coughed."Seems like a douchebag, you know?"

"Why?"

"Well...he's good looking, and he's rich, and he uses it to his advantage."

"You are doing the same." Laura leaned forward. "In this timeline, you are wealthy. Your parents have given you advanced access to your inheritance. You also make a large salary from your role as an agent of the Red Guard."

Julian blinked. "Yeah but...huh? How do you know all this?"

"Through the Red Guard, we have access to S.H.I.E.L.D. data. I found a laptop in my home and accessed your banking records."

"Hey!" He glared at her. "That's private info!"

"You do not even know what they contain."

"..." He sighed. "Okay, how much am I worth?"

"Three billion."

"Shut up!" He leaned back in his booth. "Holy crap. That's-_damn_. I have _three billion, _and all I got myself was a Porsche?"

"Yes, you own a Porsche." Laura gave him a serious look. "You also own a BMW, a Lamborghini, a Maserati, and several other vehicles I did not have the time to examine. One is a limited edition racecar. You have parked them around the city for your convenience. You also have two vacation homes, one in the Cayman Islands, one in Genosha among the royal sector, and three private jets."

"..." Julian's forehead wrinkled. "Well..._fuck_. Guess I'm the pot calling the kettle black here, huh?"

"The 'pot'?"

"Nevermind, clone." He paused. "Damn. Maybe that's why my life back there sucked. I was using up all my luck in this other timeline."

Laura said nothing.

"Wait a minute." He leaned forward again. "The Genosha royal sector? What's that?"

"In this timeline, mutants are considered the superior family of Scarlet Witch is royalty. Fortunately, we were not found to be connected to her death. It has never been solved."

"Dea-oh, right." He paused. "Why not?"

"When we pressed return on our time devices, we returned to our present. As I was saying before, I think we temporally displaced this timeline's versions of ourselves. Which were not at all connected to her death."

"Oh." He paused. "Got it. So...what happened to the other versions of us from _this_ timeline, then?"

Laura shrugged.

His eyebrows drew together. "Another thing I don't get…_why_ are mutants royalty here? When we stopped M-day, shouldn't things have just continued on like they were going? I mean, it wasn't anything like the apocalypse timeline, but mutants sure as hell weren't considered superior or anything." Pause. "Not by most people, anyway."

"I do not know." She looked troubled as well. "We will need to do some investigations. I think something may have gone wrong."

"I'm not saying _that_." He frowned. "I'm just saying...the logic doesn't line up. But everything is so awesome here. So it doesn't really matter. I don't think we need to think too hard about it."

She said nothing, but he could tell she wasn't happy with his answer.

"Damn, this is all so much more complicated than I thought it was gonna be." He sighed, and looked at her. "Least we're in it together, right?"

"Who ordered the waffles?" their waitress interrupted, having returned with steaming plates of food.

Laura raised her hand.

* * *

"So, you know _where_ we work?" Julian asked.

"Yes. Three blocks from here."

"That's convenient."

They were floating outside the diner. He had noticed several other mutants pass them, flying on their way to work, to school, to whatever was going on in their lives. It amazed him. He'd never been all that careful with his own flight, but it was one thing to be reckless about it, and another for it to be a normal function of society. It was so different from the world he was used to.

"Yes."

"Tell me where to go."

"One block north and two east."

As they flew, Julian snuck a sidelong glance at her. She was watching the street far below, her eyebrows arched slightly. He wondered what she thought of the world around them now. Did she find it as strange as he did? Or did she just accept it, like she seemed to accept everything else in her life? How many things had she been made to accept at this point? What was Cyclops making her _do? _What-

"Stop."

"This place?" He was impressed. The building was a huge skyscraper, glittering brightly in the sunshine.

She nodded.

He brought them to ground level and set them down gently. "Alright, let's see what we're in for." He headed into the lobby, his eyes darting to and fro as he took in the building's luxurious interior.

"Hi Agent Keller!" a familiar voice called.

His eyebrows drew together and he shot a look at the speaker. Bright red hair, mercury skin-"Cess!" He moved over to her reception desk, which was situated beside something that looked like a metal detector. "It's been forever...how're you?"

"Er-" She stared up at him and adjusted her headset. "It's been-I'm fine-but we talked yesterday, sir-and-um-how do you know my name?"

"..." Julian raised an eyebrows. "Uh, cuz we're _friends?_"

"We are?" Cessily looked confused.

"We need to get to an appointment." Laura said this firmly. "Can you let us into the building?"

"Oh, yeah!" Cessily waved to the scanner. "Just walk on through."

"Laura's got metal claws, she'll set it off like crazy." Julian paused. "Come to think of it, how are _you_ sitting beside it and not setting it off like crazy?"

Cessily raised a red eyebrow. "It's a DNA scanner. As long as you have an X gene, you're good to go. You sure you're feeling okay, Agent Keller?"

Julian's forehead wrinkled. "Agent-"

"_We need to go._" Laura's voice was firm.

His eyebrows drew together. Something told him that he should probably listen. "Well, see you later."

"Have a good day, Agent."

"You, uh, too." He turned and slowly followed Laura through the scanner, which only gave a small confirmatory _blip! _as it read his X-gene. He normally would've stopped to admire the scanner, maybe even bragged about how powerful he was, but he was still struggling with the idea that Cessily didn't even recognize him. Back in Utopia, even though she avoided him for the most part, she was usually friendly. Every now and then, the real her would shine through. She had never treated him quite as coldly as some of the others. And back in the day, she was one of his best friends. As close to him as Santo, and his roommate-

"Julian!"

He turned, his eyes widening. "Brian?!"

Brian was walking up to him, grinning. "So, you going to pay up?"

Julian stared at him. He hadn't seen his best friend since he died on the bus five years ago. "..." He felt his eyes starting to sting. The room was swimming slightly.

Brian's face fell. "Something wrong man?"

"Lunch did not agree with him." Laura paused. "We are late for an appointment, please excuse us."

"Will do!" he said, in his usual agreeable manner. "We still on for Friday?"

"Uh…" Julian's eyebrows drew together. "Um-yeah, of c-course."

"Damn, is it food poisoning?" Brian paused. "You go to the taco stand on the corner of Erikson? Santo said it's run by _humans._" His lip curled in distaste.

"Er-" Julian shook his head. "Some-some cafe. I'll-I'll see you later." He let Laura pull him down the hall, his mind racing. He had never dreamed what it would actually be like to _see _those he had lost again. Having Sofia back was one thing, but _Brian? _His _dead_ friend? No, he wasn't dead, he was-

"You will need to do a better job concealing your discrepancies." Laura's voice was scolding."You are terrible at this."

"Cut me a break." He glared at her, his eyes still damp. He felt angry all of a sudden. "I haven't-I haven't seen him in five years, not since he died. You've never lost anyone who meant something to you." He gritted his teeth. "You have _no_ idea what that's like, clone."

Laura's eyes narrowed. "No, _you_ have no idea." She paused. "Do not make assumptions about me"

"..." His lip curled. "Oh yeah? Who? Your handler? Your designer? Your-"

"My mother." Her voice was very quiet. But there was something about the way she said the words that warned him not to press.

He paused, his expression fading. "I'm-I'm sorry."

She said nothing.

"Okay." His eyebrows drew together. "Okay, so maybe...maybe you get it. But what if your mom just showed up suddenly? How the hell would _you_ react?"

"I would continue to execute the mission." Her voice was firm. "The mission, right now, is to avoid seeming out of place. You are failing."

"..." Julian sighed. "Fine. Sorry."

She said nothing.

"I'll do better?" he tried.

"Good." She looked down the hall. "Our office is this way."

"We have an office?" Julian stared at her. "Cool! How do you know?"

"I can smell our trail from several days ago." She turned and began to walk.

After a moment he followed her, his forehead wrinkled. He hadn't known that about Laura. Come to think of it, he didn't really know _anything _about her at all, even after all this time. He knew she'd been made in a lab, by horrible people; he'd seen that much for himself when they rescued Cessily. He also knew she wasn't afraid to kill when the situation called for it. But that wasn't much, especially considering she was his best friend. _Wait_-but Brian was alive, here. _He_ was his best friend, right? He frowned.

"Here." Laura was opening a door.

They were now in a large office room. The entire back wall was a window that looked over the city. In the center of the room were two marble desks, with expensive-looking chairs. The white carpet was thick and luxurious, and-was that a _fireplace _on the other wall_? _Julian raised his eyebrows. "Damn, guess we have it pretty easy, huh?"

"Yes." Laura was approaching one of the desks, her eyebrows drawn together.

He followed her gaze. There were items all over the carpet. Pens, papers, a book. As if they had been wiped off the desk. He raised an eyebrow, then sat down in one of the chairs, leaned back. "This is all so weird. It doesn't feel real. Like, I have no idea what we were even doing here."

"..." Laura was looking in the trash can beside the desk.

"What?"

She said nothing.

He peered over her shoulder, and suddenly understood. There was not only one, but several, used condoms. The cleared desk suddenly made sense. "Aw, man." He buried his face in his hands, leaning on his desk. "What were we _thinking?!_"

"I am not sure much thinking was involved."

Julian glared at her through his fingers. "Hey. Clone. _You're _the one who keeps wanting more." He lowered his hands. "I'm just saying, it was really dumb for us to mess around with so much at stake." He paused. "Least we put a stop to it before it was too late."

"Yes." She also paused. "I do not want to hurt Warren."

"..." Julian gritted his teeth. "Don't bring him into this, okay?"

Laura said nothing, but arched her eyebrows.

"I just-grr. Forget it." He folded his arms. "Okay, so what exactly are we supposed to be _doing_ all day? Is there, like, a job description we could find? Could we like, google the Red Guard' or something?"

"Perhaps." Laura opened the laptop on her desk. "You can do that. I will see what I can find in this."

"I don't have a computer, genius."

"Have you checked the floor?"

Julian rolled his eyes, but looked beside his desk, and saw a laptop sitting haphazardly on the floor, probably having fallen there when the other version of him cleared it off. He picked it up and turned it on. "The fuck is my password?"

"Why would I know that?" Laura was already clicking away on hers.

"Figured you could hack it for me or something."

"No." She saw his questioning look. "I guessed mine."

"Great." He sighed and began trying things he could think of, most involving Sofia's and Grace's names, but nothing worked. He sat back in his chair and stared at the laptop, feeling clueless and defeated.

"I have located some files." Laura paused. "Cases we are working on. Most involve monitoring non-mutant establishments."

"For what?" He frowned, remembering what Brian had said about that taco stand run by humans. The look of hate that had briefly crossed his face. "Let me guess-protecting them?" He felt like rolling his eyes. Looked like his other timeline self had a lame side after all.

Her eyebrows drew together, and she shook her head slightly. "No. We extracted taxes from them...and identified possible rebellions. Ended terrorist attacks." She paused. "We also assisted with choosing candidates for a labor force of some sort. I am seeing reference to a camp."

Julian also paused. On one hand, he wasn't too fond of humans himself, not after the things that had happened to him and his friends. But wasn't sure he liked what she had just said. His nose wrinkled. "What, really?"

Laura nodded. She glanced at him, her eyes also full of concern. "I do not believe this timeline is...better for everyone."

He hesitated. "Well...of course it's not. Every world is going to have it's losers, right?"

She said nothing.

"I'm sure it's nothing too crazy. We would've seen it right away, right?" He gestured to the window-wall, through which the sun was shining. A mutant was drifting by, alongside several seagulls, smiling as she read something on her phone. "Look. No war, no Nimrods, no predator X's. So what if humans are getting pushed around a little? It only seems fair after the hell _we_ went through." He paused. "Let's just figure out what we were doing here, so we can start fitting in. And, uh, where everyone _is..._like Santo, Josh...the gang."

"The latter should not be difficult. We have access to the S.H.I.E.L.D. database."

"_Damn. _Yeah, I remember you saying we're a division of that." He paused. "Okay. Let's get a list going for-"

_Hey, assholes, bet you went to the wrong room. _A voice said in their minds. Male. Vaguely familiar. _Meeting's been moved to 1351. If you're not here in five, it's not going to be pretty. _

Julian paused. "Fuuccckkk."

Laura's eyebrows drew together. "They have telepaths."

He gave her a frantic look. "What the hell do we _do?_"

"Attend the meeting and try to avoid suspicion." She frowned. "Room 1351. That is on the 13th floor."

"Shit." He scrambled to his feet. "And what's the plan if they figure us out?"

"What we have done before." She raised an eyebrow. "Travel to an earlier time."

"Oh. Right." He let out a breath. "Okay. Let's go."

* * *

"Here." Laura reached out and pressed a panel on the wall, causing a large pair of metal doors to slide open.

Julian took a deep breath, then followed her into the room.

There was a long metal conference table, around which was gathered what he presumed to be the other agents of the Red Guard. Some X-men, such as Wolverine, Psylocke, Rogue, Nightcrawler. Some students, like Santo, Nori, Josh, Brian, and a few he didn't immediately recognize. And some were not related to the X-men at all, such as a woman with dark blue skin and bright red hair. Mystique. What was _she_ doing here?

"I assume you have a good reason for being late?" Wolverine growled at them.

"Uh…" Julian looked at Laura.

"We were not informed the room had been changed." She headed toward an empty seat at the table.

He took the seat beside hers, hoping no one could tell how much he was freaking out right now. _Just get through this. _He closed his eyes, tried to take a deeper breath. Maybe no one would even call on them.

Wolverine leaned forward slightly. "So, Scion, you said you had new intel on the situation with Project: Genesis?"

Julian looked around the table, wondering who Scion was. He hadn't even thought about the fact that people might use different aliases in this timeline. Well, _that_ could make things confusing fast.

"Scion?"

No one was speaking. And everyone was looking at _him_. Julian froze, his eyes widening and his forehead wrinkling. "M-me?" he asked after a moment.

"..." Wolverine's eyes narrowed. "That's your name, ain't it?"

"Uh-" Julian looked at Laura.

She was shaking her head slowly, her expression one of mild exasperation. As if unable to believe he was messing things up so quickly. Within the first minute of the meeting.

He closed his eyes, frustrated. "Yeah. Sorry. Rough day." He paused again, remembering what _else _Wolverine had said. What the hell was Project: Genesis?! This was worse than the time he'd had to bullshit his way through a book report on a book he hadn't read. At least _that _had had a descriptive title to work with. "Uh...so...we found a...possible lead." He paused. "We're going to...follow it. Maybe some...uh...interrogation."

"You not do your homework or somethin', Keller?" Wolverine was sneering.

Laura mouthed the words "thirty."

He nodded slightly, turning his wrist over under the table.


End file.
